A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present, 2nd Edition

A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present Second Edition paints a richly nuanced and strikingly original portrait of the last two centuries of Japanese history. It takes students from the days of the shogunate–the feudal overlordship of the Tokugawa family–through the modernizing revolution launched by midlevel samurai in the late nineteenth century; the adoption of Western hairstyles clothing and military organization; and the nations first experiments with mass democracy after World War I. Author Andrew Gordon offers the finest synthesis to date of Japans passage through militarism World War II the American occupation and the subsequent economic rollercoaster. The true ingenuity and value of Gordons approach lies in his close attention to the non-elite layers of society. Here students will see the influence of outside ideas products and culture on home life labor unions political parties gender relations and popular entertainment. The book examines Japans struggles to define the meaning of its modernization from villages and urban neighborhoods to factory floors and middle managers offices to the imperial court. Most importantly it illuminates the interconnectedness of Japanese developments with world history demonstrating how Japans historical passage represents a variation of a process experienced by many nations and showing how the Japanese narrative forms one part of the interwoven fabric of modern history. This second edition incorporates increased coverage of both Japans role within East Asia–particularly with China Korea and Manchuria–as well as expanded discussions of cultural and intellectual history. With a sustained focus on setting modern Japan in a comparative and global context A Modern History of Japan Second Edition is ideal for undergraduate courses in modern Japanese history Japanese politics Japanese society or Japanese culture.