Japans Historia (Kulturländernas Historia

by Edwin O. Reischauer, Leif Hökstrand (Translator)

Bok om Japans historia, utgiven av Natur och Kultur som del av deras serie Kulturländernas Historia. Skriven av Edwin O. Reischauer, USA:s ambassadör i Japan som är född i Tokyo och har även tjänstgjort som professor i östasiatiska språk vid Harvards universitet

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Japan, Asia

233 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Edwin Oldfather Reischauer was an American diplomat, educator, and professor at Harvard University. Born in Tokyo to American educational missionaries, he became a leading scholar of the history and culture of Japan and East Asia. Together with George M. McCune, a scholar of Korea, in 1939 he developed the McCune–Reischauer romanization of the Korean language.

Reischauer became involved in helping create US policy toward East Asia during and after World War II. President John F. Kennedy appointed Reischauer as the United States Ambassador to Japan, where he served from 1961 to 1966. Reischauer founded the Japan Institute at Harvard University in 1973 and was its founding director. It was later named in honor of him.

Reviews

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written right after World War II and revised in 1964, Japan: Past and Present presents a brief outline of the history of that nation as well as its cultural development.

[Yalin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reischauer's book is not only insightful and tightly packed with information, but it is also written in a clear and concise language which would make this work a great introduction to learning about Japan. It is a delightful and informative reading on Japanese history, politics, and society.

One thing that the reader must be aware of - and I was not when I acquired this book, although it did not take away from the pleasure of reading it - is that Reischauer has updated this book well into the 80s, but under the title "Japan: The Story of a Nation". (Japan: The Story of a Nation) You might want to go for that, if you are aiming to look for the latest, but this version of the book is still more than adequate in meeting the interest of the reader - just not after much of the 60s.

[Drew Tschirki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short book is a fantastic summary of Japanese history. Though a short summary, it is a must-have for any serious Japanophile/historian. Reischauer effectively and beautifully retells the story of the 2,000 year history and development of the Japanese people and their country through a fairly non-partisan lens. Interestingly, he gave the US occupation of Japan and the post-war years a great, fair and detailed summary.

One of the best parts of the book is at the end where he provides a wealth of books, many of which I have read, for further reading and research.

To those that say it is too dry, I found it to be just the opposite. It was highly readable and accessible.

[Brian Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great condensed history of Japan. Covers a great range of topics, like religious, political, geographical, economical information; but accessible to the laymen (though by no means a breeze given its information density).

[Karin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars

[Gamboy · Rating 5 out of 5]

nice

[Beth Babbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative, but very dry, as is expected from an academic text. However, my favorite part are the visual aids in the book. Worth checking out just for the maps and diagrams!