Reischauer, wife of a noted Japanese historian and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, tells the story of her two grandfathers: the famous Meiji statesman Matsukata Masayoshi, whose stringent financial policies are credited with steering Japan safely through its first economic crisis, and Arai Rioichiro, who helped develop Japan's silk exports to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Their lives, inextricably interwoven with modern Japanese history, are vividly presented, along with fascinating glimpses of the family life of Japan's upper class in this period. The book should be popular with general readers as well as specialists. Evelyn S. Rawski, History Dept., Univ. of Pittsburgh

Samurai and Silk is a rare treasure: a book of penetrating insight into the Japanese character and the forging of modern Japan from the feudal Tokugawa shoguns to present day economic titans. Only Haru Reischauer could have written this extraordinary family account, beginning with her two illustrious grandfathers: one, a provincial samurai who became a founding father of the Meiji government; the other, a scion of a wealthy and enterprising peasant family who almost single-handedly developed the silk trade with America. Their remarkable stories, and those of their notable descendants, demonstrate the unbounded vision and determination that explain so much about Japan's legendary success.