Japan in World History

Here is a page-turning compact history of Japan from earliest times to the present with a focus on its often tempestuous often creative relationships with other countries. The book ranges from Japan''s prehistoric interactions with Korea and China to the Western challenge of the late 1500s the partial isolation under the Tokugawa family (1600-1868) and the tumultuous interactions of more recent times when Japan modernized ferociously turned imperialist lost a world war then became the world''s second largest economy--and its greatest foreign aid donor. Writing in a lively fashion Huffman makes rich use of primary documents illustrating events with comments by the people who lived through them: tellers of ancient myths court women who dominated the early literary world cynical priests who damned medieval materialism travelers who marveled at indecent Western ballroom dancers in the mid-1800s and the emperor who justified Pearl Harbor. Without ignoring standard political and military events the book illuminates economic social and cultural factors; it also examines issues of gender as well as the roles of commoners samurai business leaders novelists and priests.