Modern Japan: A Historical Survey 5th Edition

This is one of the best-one-volume histories of Japan. I've used it for years in my classes. Clear, well written information.

It's a typical college text book. Nothing too groundbreaking.

I had to review this to bring the rating up, despite not being finished (something I normally avoid). I am reading this for my own enrichment. It is perhaps not the most delightful read, but it is fairly thorough. The angles should please some serious-minded students today. I now have Mikiso Hane's Premodern Japan on my wishlist and am very eager to read it as the area is more to my taste. In fact, I'm dying to read it right now, I would greatly appreciate the generosity of a rich secret Santa!

This book sucks. I'm in History of Modern Japan right now, and I could not care less about anything I'm reading in this book. Don't buy it, you will kill yourself.

Interpretations of Japan's recent past deserve a careful reading. Broad overviews often convey a jumble of facts without putting them into context. This book avoids that pitfall. It belongs on the shelf of others like John W. Dower's "Embracing Defeat" as an attempt to see how we got to now.