The Revolutionary Origins of Modern Japan [Paperback]

Thomas Huber (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press (February 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804717559
• ISBN-13: 978-0804717557
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,327,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inside story of Japan's revolution, November 8, 2007

By 

S. Subramanian (Hastings on Hudson, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Revolutionary Origins of Modern Japan (Paperback)

After reading countless books on the Japanese struggle leading up to the Restoration, I still couldn't put all the pieces together - until I read this book. Many other texts refer to the influence of Yoshida Shoin without providing any details. This book shows in great detail how Yoshida Shoin groomed a generation of Choshu students to become reformers or revolutionaries, as required, instilling in them a sense of burning purpose and responsibility. The book explains how the social background of Shoin and his students led them to crave reform. It details the values with which Shoin imbued his students, including a list of texts and activities that were part of the education at Shoin's school, as well as his exhortations to his students. Huber shows that not only was the intellectual and practical foundation for Choshu's engagement during the bakumatsu established by Shoin, but many of the later Meiji reforms grew out of Shoin's ideas and proposals.

Huber provides a clear and detailed account of how the lives of Shoin and two of his key student revolutionaries played out interactively with the political events of the period.

This book provides crucial links and background information that is missing in other reviews of the revolutionary period. It is clearly written, easy to understand and fascinating. Highly recommended to anyone who really wants to understand the political events leading up to the Meiji Restoration.