This is a stunner and rightly deserves its reputation as a critical work in Edo Period foreign policy studies. Putting to bed the myth of total isolation, the chapters here show the real purpose of the Shogunate was to combat ideologies that delegimitzed the state's sovereignty as a distinct entity from both Chinese regional domination and the European maritime empires. Significant percentage of the text is devoted to the truly bilateral relationship between Korea and Japan, which was the one success point of this policy that is well documented.
The focus is on Asia more than the Europeans, as this good as Asian diplomacy in this time is overlooked despite being by far the most important from the government's perspective.
a somewhat old-fashioned narrative account, but one i found really absorbing and informative. diplomatic history go go go! like chelsea, i find it a little depressing that, despite all this, the sakoku myth still persists.