Synopses & Reviews
Integrating political events with cultural, economic, and intellectual movements, Modern Japan provides a balanced and authoritative survey of modern Japanese history. A summary of Japans early history, emphasizing institutions and systems that influenced Japanese society, provides a well-rounded introduction to this essential volume, which focuses on the Tokugawa period to the present. The fourth edition now includes the latest scholarship on feudal women, samurai tactics, Chonin education, political reforms in the late Tokugawa period, foreigners in Nagasaki during the Meiji Restoration, and early feminism in the later Meiji period. Bringing Japanese history up to date, the final chapter details current issues, including the impact of the Gulf Wars on Japanese international relations and the recent controversies over Japanese war crimes, the so-called Comfort Women, and the Yasukuni war memorial.
Review
“Mikiso Hane, with Louis Perez’s updates, provides us once again with a text that treats the political, economic, intellectual, cultural, and, social history of Japan up to current times. Women and minorities are fully included in this readable yet detailed history of modern Japan.”
—Ann M. Harrington, Loyola University Chicago
Review
“This is a nicely crafted revised edition of Mikiso Hane’s classic textbook,
Modern Japan: A Historical Survey. Through effective revisions and additional information, this book has been updated and is comprehensive and balanced. Truly a well-suited book for a semester-long course on Japan since 1600.”
—Roy Hanashiro, University of Michigan, Flint
Review
“Since its first edition, Hane’s text has served as an excellent guide to modern Japanese history, thanks largely to the clarity of his writing, unbiased voice, and efforts to humanize the story, most notably by including the experiences of peasants, women, and other minorities too often overlooked. Perez, to his credit, has made the text even more accessible to students and general readers. Not only has he seamlessly woven in updated material and editorially improved the flow of the narrative, but his expansion of the bibliography and chronological chart and inclusion of a new section on internet sources have significantly enhanced the text’s usefulness as a resource.”
—Elizabeth Dorn Lublin, Wayne State University
Synopsis
A thoughtful and richly detailed survey of modern Japanese history from the Tokugawa period to the present
About the Author
The late
Mikiso Hane was Szold Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.
Louis G. Perez is Distinguished University Professor of History and Womens and Gender Studies at Illinois State University.