A Brief History of Japanese Civilization [Paperback]

Conrad Schirokauer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0155002821 | ISBN-13: 978-0155002821 | Edition: 1

This balanced account of Japanese history focuses on developments in art, religion, literature, and thought as well as economic, political, and social history. The author, who has studied and conducted research at The Kyoto University Institute for Humanistic Studies since 1967, offers a clear, consistent, and highly readable text accessible to students with no previous knowledge of Japan.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Conrad Schirokauer, Senior Scholar and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University and Professor Emeritus at the City University of New York, received his doctorate from Stanford. He has studied in Paris and conducted research in Japan and China. His published papers and articles deal mostly with Song intellectual history. He is co-editor, with Robert Hymes, of ORDERING THE WORLD: APPROACHES TO STATE AND SOCIETY IN SUNG DYNASTY CHINA (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993). His current research is on Song perceptions of and attitudes toward history. Schirokauer was associated with a New York University summer graduate program for teachers in Japan and China and remains interested in how history is taught and written. As a textbook author, he has published A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHINESE AND JAPANESE CIVILIZATIONS (Second Edition 1989), with separate volumes on China (1990) and Japan (1993), all now available from Wadsworth. Also worth mention, is his translation of CHINA'S EXAMINATION HELL by Miyazaki Ichisada (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976,1981), which he recommends to any student who feels burdened by examinations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; 1 edition (January 2, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0155002821
• ISBN-13: 978-0155002821
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,169,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A required text but nice to have anyway, July 26, 2010

By 

J. C. Simon (lake katrine, ny United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Brief History of Japanese Civilization (Paperback)

I ordered this required text for my summer Japanese history course. It is a beautiful book to look at, and although a bit densely written, it seems to be a good introduction to a complex and labyrinthine subject.

5.0 out of 5 stars As a College Textbook, March 9, 2009

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J. H. Kamihachi - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Brief History of Japanese Civilization (Paperback)

I'm a Hamilton College student pursuing an Asian Studies major. This book is a pretty good summary of Japanese history covering cultural, religious, and historical information. It also is in color unlike the privious addition, or so says my professor. Overall it makes a pretty good college textbook.

15 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A book that feels misguided, December 9, 2003

By 

Svanur Bjornsson (Reykjavik, Iceland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Brief History of Japanese Civilization (Paperback)

I've had the dubious pleasure of reading this book as I am a student of Japanese language and culture. After reading those 300 pages I have to say that this book is not for those who want to research japanese history as it focuses on many inconsequential things to the history of Japan.

One could say that history is written in suffering as one reads the history of the western world. Both Europe and America have had their bloodshed through the centuries and it's clearly illustrated in our own cultural history. We still create movies, documentaries and books on the Second World War as well as the myriad of conflicts that have been started in the name of religion, king or nation.
Japan is in itself no different as there were clear social class lines between warriors, merchants and commoners. Due to the fact that Japanese history is based on the warrior it is a bit surprising that this book talks very little about the wars and conflicts that drove the nation to the modern world. Some wars that are considered importan to Japanese history are only granted one sentence while the author can go on and on talking about the intricacies of a Buddhist statue.
The second problem with the book is the pacing, the author goes from one emperor to another without putting them in sufficient context which in turns makes this book probably as convulating as the "Nihonshoki".

If it were a book that based itself on Japanese art history, poetry and literature I would well advise it to those who seek knowledge about that particular history. For those who want to see what drove this nation forth to conquest and glory I advise people to look elsewhere.