A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower [Paperback]

Kenneth G. Henshall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2001

In a rare combination of comprehensive coverage and sustained critical focus, this book examines Japanese history in its entirety to identify the factors underlying the nation's progression to superpower. Japan's achievement is explained not merely in economic terms, but at a more fundamental level, as a product of historical patterns of response to circumstance. Japan is shown to be a nation historically impelled by a pragmatic determination to succeed. The book also highlights unresolved questions and little-known facts.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Henshall, a New Zealand professor of Japanese studies, has written a lively and literate introduction to the vast sweep of Japanese history, providing a well-balanced overview that is accessible to the novice without being at all dumbed down. Although his emphasis is on political history, he devotes enough attention to cultural, literary, religious, and economic developments to give the reader a good sense of these spheres as well. He even manages to flavor the text with excerpts from poetry and key historical documents. Roughly equal weight is given to pre-modern and modern Japan. Henshall focuses on key issues in each of his six chapters and provides very useful tables summarizing both historical chronology and the main values and practices that characterized each period. A paperback version of this book, if made available, would find its way into many university surveys of East Asian history.ASteven I. Levine, Univ. of Montana, Missoula
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Despite its current business slump, Japan remains an economic powerhouse and, potentially, a major political force in world affairs. Thus, it is useful if ordinary Americans, as well as specialists, obtain an understanding and appreciation of Japanese culture and history. Henshall, professor of Japanese studies at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, has provided a short but reasonably thorough survey of Japanese history, beginning with the first human settlement of the islands. There are no major surprises here, and Henshall handles controversial issues with an evenhanded approach, declining to advocate a particular position. Still, he offers some useful insights into the Japanese "national character," and he convincingly asserts that the supposed assimilation of Western values is overstated by some historians. This informative and easily digestible work is ideal for general readers who wish to learn more about this important and fascinating nation. Jay Freeman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st edition (March 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312233701
• ISBN-13: 978-0312233709
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,696,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointment, January 24, 2004

By 

Michael (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (Paperback)

This book turned out to be a great disappointment. First of all, instead of providing a detailed description of historical events, it consists of a large number of facts about Japanese history, accompanied by the author's commentary. A great deal of information contains no or very little amount of detail; instead you can find numerous references to outside sources that often seem out of place to a reader unfamiliar with those works. For example, the description of the first Mongol invasion, considered by many as one of crucial points in Japanese history, is only 8 lines (p.33 last paragraph)!!! The second Mongol invasion was squeezed into another 12 lines (p.34 3rd paragraph). The total length of the description of that period amounts to only about 1 page.

Second of all, despite the author's claim in the preface that "the story needs to be told from the beginning" (p. xi), the book mainly concentrates on the recent events in Japanese history. Almost nine hundred years of Japanese medieval history are represented in mere 27 pages of the 240 page book; the period from 1600 to 1868 is represented by 32 pages, and the remaining century takes up the rest of the book.

Thirdly, instead of telling us a historical tale this book presents us with the author's opinion on particular events and his ranking of their importance. Mr. Henshall often rushes to insert his view of the events instead of letting his readers draw their own conclusions.

And lastly, the overall format of the book resembles the format of a doctoral dissertation more than a historical text and it reads as easily as a report on annual crops production. It is filled with numbers and statistics, which might come handy on a Jeopardy game but have no value if you plan to talk to someone about Japan for more than five minutes.

My overall suggestion is to stay away from this book. If I had bought it in a store and not on the internet, I would definitely return it.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The first book to read, September 12, 2002

By 

"zrayaan" - See all my reviews

This review is from: A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (Paperback)

There are really two types of people who will read a history of Japan: serious students and casual readers who wish to be reasonably well informed. In either case, this should be the first book one reads. Henshall is an authority on Japanese language and culture, so right off it is a credible text. For the casual reader, the language is fairly prosaic and easily digestible. While it deals a wonderful overview, with no dearth of specific information and credited sources, it does not (wisely) attempt to exhaust the subject. There is even chapter-by-chapter timeline and summary, though for the casual reader the timeline may be difficult to keep in one's mind; students have the advantage of being reinforced by other resources. I strongly recommend, as you read, writing out the timeline in a notebook and reinforcing the many names the same way. However, there is nothing particularly new here (except for drawing upon several sources in anthropology and archaeology which might previously not have been used in the same secondary source), so if you have a semester of Japanese history you can safely skip this book. The reason it gets only 4 stars in this review is simply because I believe that no 'generalized' reader can be THE book to have no matter its quality -- it is the one disadvantage of this type of book. However, I cannot recommend it more highly.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise and Absorbing, January 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (Hardcover)

About the size of a paperback novel and just as readable, Kenneth G. Henshall's "A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower" presents the entire span of Japanese history in an almost unbelievably short work, yet manages to convey what the author believes to be the essence of the evolutionary stream of Japanese society.

Despite Henshall's obvious gift for terse exposition, the book is not without scholarly authority, and was clearly intended to be used as a textbook as well as an adventure for the inquisitive. The major historical names are signified, and there are summaries of the principal themes.

Japan is a most mysterious land to the average Westerner, having been for so long deliberately self-isolated. Its attitudes and customs are often the blunt antitheses to those found in most other areas.

I have to admit that I stayed up all night reading this book, something that I hadn't done in 25 years. Using an emphasis on early and enduring belief systems, this work dispels historical myths about the motivations of the Japanese that seem to be a part of our folklore. It is a story portrait of a people both delicate and fierce to Western sensibilities, and makes for absorbing reading.