The Making of Modern Japan

by Marius B. Jansen

Book Overview

Magisterial in vision, sweeping in scope, this monumental work presents a seamless account of Japanese society during the modern era, from 1600 to the present. A distillation of more than 50 years' engagement with Japan and its history, it is the crowning work of our leading interpreter of the modern Japanese experience.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674003349
• ISBN13: 9780674003347
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: Belknap Press
• Length: 871 Pages
• Weight: 3.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.1" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Thorough and informative

I bought this book for reference while taking a Modern History of Asia class - I ended up reading the whole thing! Informative, interesting and a great resource for the 3 papers on Japan I wrote.

Absolutely facinating to students of Japanese History

I could not put this book down once I started reading it. Anyone looking for details from the end of the Edo era through the Allied Occupation follwing WWII will not be able to find a better book than this.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Japan, and more

Having lived in Japan off and on for over 10 years I tremendously enjoyed Marius' detailed knowledge on Japanese history. Although hard going over a number of weekends, it put all the snippets of my own knowledge of modern Japanese history in context and made the pieces of the puzzle fit. Indispensable reading for any serious student of Japan.

A remarkably clear, thorough and readable history

The late Marius Jansen has left us with a superb single volume introduction to modern Japanese history. Anyone approaching Japanese history for the first time would do very well to start with this book. Those who know the story well already will nevertheless find many delights. The book is good reading and explains the intricacies of Japanese history with remarkable clarity. Jansen treats the social and cultural as well as political and economic sides, and integrates them into a coherent whole. When reading more specialized accounts, I find myself referring back to Jansen's book as a convenient way to put their stories in context. The illustrations are well chosen and well presented. Strongly recommended.

First Rate Overview

This books covers the last 400 years of Japanese history in a series of very well written and well organized chapters. The focus on structural changes in Japanese political and social organization with briefer but insightful discussions of intellectual and economic history. Relatively unfamiliar topics such as the emergence and articulation of the Tokugawa state, the Meiji restoration, and the complex structure of Japanese politics in the pre-WWII era are discussed with great insight. There is an excellent annotated bibliography for each chapter. Jansen does an excellent job of balancing the need to explain and analyze events properly with the need to produce a one volume (though pretty thick) book. This is the book for someone looking for an introduction to Japanese history.