Review

"This work is more of what we have come to expect from Cambridge: a rock-solid summary of scholarship in the field by distinguished senior historians." Bob Tadashi

"This volume will remain the standard reference in English for nineteenth century Japanese history for decades to come." Journal of Asian and African Studies

"...provide both the non-specialist and specialist with a coherent survey of major events of the nineteenth century....Volume 5 of the Cambridge History may be read both as a summation of existing English-language historiography on nineteenth-century Japan and as implicitly setting an agenda for the next stage of research." Kate Wildman Nakai, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

Product Description

This volume in The Cambridge History of Japan provides the most comprehensive account available in any Western language of Japan's transformation from a feudal society to a modern nation state. Volume 5 traces the roots and the course of political, social, and institutional change that took place in Japan from late Tokugawa times to the early twentieth century. The interrelated collection of authoritative and analytical essays by specialists in the history of nineteenth century Japan discuss the fissures in late feudal society, the impact of and response to the Western world, the overthrow of the shogunal government, and the revolutionary changes that were instituted as defensive measures to strengthen the country against what seemed a dangerous competition with the Western world.