Skip to content
Scan a barcode
Scan
Added to your cart
Paperback Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan Book

ISBN: 0142003786

ISBN13: 9780142003787

Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan

Select Format

Select Condition ThriftBooks Help Icon

Recommended

Format: Paperback

Condition: Very Good

$6.39
Save $9.61!
List Price $16.00
Almost Gone, Only 3 Left!

You Might Also Enjoy

You Gotta Have Wa
You Gotta Have Wa
Robert Whiting

from: $6.39

Trespassers on the Roof of the World
Trespassers on the Roof of the World
Peter Hopkirk

from: $5.49

禅と日本文化 [Zen To Nihon Bunka]
禅と日本文化 [Zen To Nihon Bunka]
Daisetz T. Suzuki, D.T. Suzuki

from: $5.99

The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605
The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605
Antonia Fraser

from: $4.79

Empires of the Sea: The Final Battle for the Mediterranean, 1521 - 1580
Empires of the Sea: The Final Battle for the Mediterranean, 1521 - 1580
Roger Crowley

from: $8.39

The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Culture
The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Culture
Osamu Ikeno

from: $6.89

Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan
Herbert P. Bix

from: $6.19

The Man Who Loved China
The Man Who Loved China
Simon Winchester

from: $5.59

The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk
The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk
Jennifer Niven

from: $4.59

Musui dokugen
Musui dokugen
Kokichi Katsu

from: $7.29

A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier
A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier
Diana Preston, Michael Preston

from: $8.79

A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present
A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present
Andrew Gordon

from: $14.59

Travels with a Tangerine: A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah
Travels with a Tangerine: A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah
Tim Mackintosh-Smith

from: $5.59

The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori
The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori
Mark Ravina, Mark J. Ravina

from: $8.29

Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
John W. Dower

from: $8.29

American Scoundrel: The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles
American Scoundrel: The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles
Thomas Keneally

from: $4.39

The Perfect Heresy: The Revolutionary Life and Death of the Medieval Cathars
The Perfect Heresy: The Revolutionary Life and Death of the Medieval Cathars
Stephen O'Shea

from: $12.19

Nathaniel's Nutmeg
Nathaniel's Nutmeg
Giles Milton

from: $5.89

The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveller
The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveller
Giles Milton

from: $5.09

The Last Shogun: The Life Of Tokugawa Yoshinobu
The Last Shogun: The Life Of Tokugawa Yoshinobu
Ryōtarō Shiba

from: $8.29

Book Overview

With all the adventure, derring-do, and bloodcurdling battle scenes of his earlier book, Nathaniel s Nutmeg , acclaimed historian Giles Milton dazzles readers with the true story of William Adams the first Englishman to set foot in Japan (and the inspiration for James Clavell s bestselling novel Shogun). Beginning with Adams s startling letter to the East India Company in 1611 more than a decade after he d arrived in Japan Samurai William chronicles the first foray by the West into that mysterious closed-off land. Drawing upon the journals and letters of Adams as well as the other Englishmen who came looking for him, Samurai William presents a unique glimpse of Japan before it once again closed itself off from the world for another two hundred years."
More by Giles Milton
Nathaniel's Nutmeg
Nathaniel's Nutmeg
Giles Milton

from: $5.89

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Giles Milton

from: $8.09

Checkmate in Berlin: The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World
Checkmate in Berlin: The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World
Giles Milton

from: $6.39

White Gold
White Gold
Giles Milton

from: $6.09

Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die: How the Allies Won on D-Day
Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die: How the Allies Won on D-Day
Giles Milton

from: $4.99

When Hitler Took Cocaine and When Stalin Robbed a Bank: History's Unknown Chapters
When Hitler Took Cocaine and When Stalin Robbed a Bank: History's Unknown Chapters
Giles Milton, Milan Kopecký

from: $7.59

Big Chief Elizabeth : The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America
Big Chief Elizabeth : The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America
Giles Milton

from: $5.29

When Lenin Lost His Brain and When Churchill Slaughtered Sheep
When Lenin Lost His Brain and When Churchill Slaughtered Sheep
Giles Milton

from: $6.09

Russian Roulette: A Deadly Game - How British Spies Thwarted Lenin's Global Plot
Russian Roulette: A Deadly Game - How British Spies Thwarted Lenin's Global Plot
Giles Milton

from: $5.39

Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922, The Destruction Of Islam's City Of Tolerance
Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922, The Destruction Of Islam's City Of Tolerance
Giles Milton

from: $17.09

The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveller
The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveller
Giles Milton

from: $5.09

The Stalin Affair: The Allies' Secret Mission to Wartime Moscow
The Stalin Affair: The Allies' Secret Mission to Wartime Moscow
Giles Milton

from: $11.99

The Boy Who Went to War: The Story of a Reluctant German Soldier in WWII
The Boy Who Went to War: The Story of a Reluctant German Soldier in WWII
Giles Milton

from: $6.99

Fascinating Footnotes From History
Fascinating Footnotes From History
Giles Milton

from: $8.09

Good Luck, Baby Owls!
Good Luck, Baby Owls!
Giles Milton

from: $6.29

Edward Trencom's Nose: A Novel of History, Dark Intrigue, and Cheese
Edward Trencom's Nose: A Novel of History, Dark Intrigue, and Cheese
Giles Milton

from: $5.69

The Perfect Corpse
The Perfect Corpse
Giles Milton

from: $12.40

Space Odyssey: A Voyage to the Planets
Space Odyssey: A Voyage to the Planets
Tim Haines, Giles Milton, Christopher Riley

from: $11.09

Call Me Gorgeous
Call Me Gorgeous
Giles Milton

from: $5.79

Children of the Wild
Children of the Wild
Giles Milton, Giles Milton BA

from: $23.19

D-Day: The Soldiers' Story
D-Day: The Soldiers' Story
Giles Milton

Out of Stock

According to Arnold
According to Arnold
Giles Milton

Out of Stock

Customer Reviews

7 customer ratings | 5 reviews

Rated 5 stars
The True Story Behind

When I was gathering material to complete my review on Mr. James Clavell's "Shogun" I saw a reference to this book and can't resist the temptation to bought it and read it. After finishing reading it I was amazed by how deeply Mr. Clavell has grasped this exotic environment in his novel. Mr. Milton has thoroughly researched the contemporary European sources to build this book. He took into account the diary & letters from...

0Report

Rated 5 stars
Excellent

Milton presents an easy-to-read account of early European ventures in Japan. The key figure which holds this book together is William Adams (of Shogun fame). Adams is an English pilot who finds himself in Japan after a particularly perilous journey. Being a stranger in a strange land, he faces many difficulties, but through luck and skill in adaptation, he becomes someone of importance in his new home country. Years later,...

0Report

Rated 5 stars
To live in 16th/17th century Japan

The story of William Adams is a very well known subject in Japan, as is also stated at the end of the present book. The way, however, in which the author writes about the leading character (Adams) as well as events of significance around him in connection with the world, as it was perceived in that age, and travel in that world is according to my opinion phenomenal. Aside from some factual errors, which by the way can only...

0Report

Rated 5 stars
Another meaty history which blends well with Milton's others

Giles Milton seems to be making a good career out of gutsy little histories related to Britain's Tudor and Stuart trading history, and he does them very well. This latest offering is the well known but little examined history of British trading in Japan. I say well known - but really only in its most skeleton of detail - until now. William Adams, who was wrecked on the shores of Japan in the very eary seventeenth century...

0Report

Rated 5 stars
"A man tough as salt pork and bred to survive hardship."

When William Adams and his dying crew arrived in Japan in 1600, after nineteen months at sea, they became the first Englishmen ever to set foot on what was, for them, a completely uncharted, unknown land. The duplicitous Portuguese, who had already set up a trading post there, informed the Japanese that Adams and his men were pirates, and the Japanese imprisoned Adams for six weeks, but they did not crucify him, a common...

0Report

Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
GoDaddy Verified and Secured