No traveler in the nineteenth century became a greater catalyst of change than Manjiro Nakahama, a man revered in Japan and virtually unknown in the U. S. The New Bedford Samurai began his adventures as a runaway, illiterate boy from an island nation locked tight against the world, ruled by a strict caste system, and by and large ignorant of six hundred years of progress. By the end of his life, Manjiro had circumnavigated the globe five times, saw (and helped) his country change from the feudal Shogunate to a nation committed to playing a major role in global affairs, and imported from the U. S. to his native land both an enthusiastic spirit of democracy and the entrepreneurial know-how that resulted in severe ecological damage.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"A brilliant fusion of a nonfiction novel and an ecologically concerned memoir, Anca Vlasopolos' latest book, The New Bedford Samurai, takes the reader on multiple journeys. She takes us back through time, bringing to life the true saga of a nineteenth-century Japanese castaway, Manjiro Nakahama, and through space, taking us with her to Japan, where we learn of the plight of the short-tailed albatross. What's more, this creative, eloquent, and heartrending book makes us care." --Susan Morgan, author of Place Matters: Gendered Geography in Victorian Women's Travel Writing about Southeast Asia.
"Anca Vlasopolos brings passion and poetic talent to vivifying the poignant story of the nineteenth-century boy castaway Nakahama Manjiro. His inadvertent displacement from one side of the world to another is used here as a jumping-off point for adumbrating some of the destructive aspects of present-day globalization. Describing the career of her protagonist, Vlasopolos has brought particular attention to nineteenth-century environmental depredations whose fallout continues to destroy our world. Her imaginatively structured account includes pleas for reconsideration of some of the present-day attitudes and practices that are extending the scope of the destruction, adding to the growing body of literature that seeks to address the urgent need for consciousness-raising in these areas." --Lindsley Cameron, author of The Music of Light: The Extraordinary Story of Hikari and Kenzaburo Oe.
"Vlasopolos brings to life the remarkable and adventurous story of John Manjiro, an indomitable trans-Pacific ambassador between east and west at a time of isolation, ignorance, and distrust. Here is an evocative slice of space-time: the world of maritime commerce and culture in the mid-nineteenth century, taking the reader on an epic adventure--from being marooned on a deserted island, to whaling the western Pacific, Hawaii, early New Bedford, the California Gold Rush, and into the reclusive traditions of early Japan. The Manjiro story is a parable for modern times--a portal into the relationship between cultures and between humans and the natural world. This is a fascinating, heretofore untold story, and Vlasopolos tells it with beauty, charm, historical accuracy, and introspection..." --Rick Steiner, Marine Conservation Specialist, co-director of the environmental NGO "The Coastal Coalition" and notable environmental writer.
"Anca Vlasopolos brings passion and poetic talent to vivifying the poignant story of the nineteenth-century boy castaway Nakahama Manjiro. His inadvertent displacement from one side of the world to another is used here as a jumping-off point for adumbrating some of the destructive aspects of present-day globalization. Describing the career of her protagonist, Vlasopolos has brought particular attention to nineteenth-century environmental depredations whose fallout continues to destroy our world. Her imaginatively structured account includes pleas for reconsideration of some of the present-day attitudes and practices that are extending the scope of the destruction, adding to the growing body of literature that seeks to address the urgent need for consciousness-raising in these areas." --Lindsley Cameron, author of The Music of Light: The Extraordinary Story of Hikari and Kenzaburo Oe.
"Vlasopolos brings to life the remarkable and adventurous story of John Manjiro, an indomitable trans-Pacific ambassador between east and west at a time of isolation, ignorance, and distrust. Here is an evocative slice of space-time: the world of maritime commerce and culture in the mid-nineteenth century, taking the reader on an epic adventure--from being marooned on a deserted island, to whaling the western Pacific, Hawaii, early New Bedford, the California Gold Rush, and into the reclusive traditions of early Japan. The Manjiro story is a parable for modern times--a portal into the relationship between cultures and between humans and the natural world. This is a fascinating, heretofore untold story, and Vlasopolos tells it with beauty, charm, historical accuracy, and introspection..." --Rick Steiner, Marine Conservation Specialist, co-director of the environmental NGO "The Coastal Coalition" and notable environmental writer.
About the Author
Born in Rumania, at fourteen Anca Vlasopolos immigrated to the U. S. with her mother, an Auschwitz survivor. She is professor of English at Wayne State University and author of an award-winning memoir, a collection of poems and two chapbooks, a detective novel, a scholarly monograph and numerous academic articles and chapters.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Could not put this down,
This review is from: The New Bedford Samurai (Paperback)
It's a shame that the other reviews for this book focus on the historical accuracy of this "non-fiction" novel--not because it didn't clearly involve a great deal of impressive research, but because the book is not a history text but a serious page-turner, a beautifully written and incredibly gripping re-imagining of the amazing but true meeting of people from two completely different worlds: a young man, hardly more than a boy, from the closed-to-the-west Japan of the early 1800s, and a New England whaling-boat captain--both of them far ahead of their time. The novel takes you on a compelling journey through these characters' adventures, intermingling their stories with vivid scenes that illustrate the consequences, historical and ecological, of globalization (part of which started when these two characters met). From a never-to-be-forgotten scene of the capture of a shark on the whaling vessel to stunning descriptions of land- and sea-life to powerful conversations between individuals reaching across cultures, this book brings the past--real and imagined--vibrantly to life. Just don't start reading this when you have something else to do--you won't be able to pull yourself away!
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Nonfiction Novel!,
By
This review is from: The New Bedford Samurai (Hardcover)
Anca Vlasopolos has immersed her reader through her massive research on a historical character into the connecting oceanic link between Japan and America. Manjiro Nakahama, a man without a culture who is no longer Japanese and never an American, links the two cultures through his American acquired technology and Japanese diplomacy. My gratitude this Christmas followed my precious plastic through the gifting of two copies for my daughters.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The New Bedford Samurai,
By
This review is from: The New Bedford Samurai (Hardcover)
A fascinating story of Manjiro Nakahama, a not so well known but important link between the US and Japan, told in admirable style with deep understanding of some of the issues involved, including destruction of our living environement and the effects of globalization.
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