A History of Japan - (Blackwell History of the World) 2nd Edition by Conrad Totman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This is an updated edition of Conrad Totman's authoritative history of Japan from c.8000 BC to the present day.

• The first edition was widely praised for combining sophistication and accessibility.
• Covers a wide range of subjects, including geology, climate, agriculture, government and politics, culture, literature, media, foreign relations, imperialism, and industrialism.
• Updated to include an epilogue on Japan today and tomorrow.
• Now includes more on women in history and more on international relations.
• Bibliographical listings have been updated and enlarged.

Part of The Blackwell History of the World Series

The goal of this ambitious series is to provide an accessible source of knowledge about the entire human past, for every curious person in every part of the world. It will comprise some two dozen volumes, of which some provide synoptic views of the history of particular regions while others consider the world as a whole during a particular period of time. The volumes are narrative in form, giving balanced attention to social and cultural history (in the broadest sense) as well as to institutional development and political change. Each provides a systematic account of a very large subject, but they are also both imaginative and interpretative. The Series is intended to be accessible to the widest possible readership, and the accessibility of its volumes is matched by the style of presentation and production.

From the Back Cover

This authoritative and accessible book charts the history of Japan from c.8000 BC to the present. Conrad Totman conceptualizes the country's history in terms of four major ages: the age of foragers, dispersed agriculturalists, intensive agriculture, and industrialism. Within this framework, he traces the changing patterns of human-environment relations and examines their interplay with the more familiar realms of political, socio-economic, and cultural history.

The book treats the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries in considerable detail and gives fullest coverage to the twentieth century when this island nation became a major player on the stage of world history. In its survey of this recent history, it explores: diplomatic and domestic political affairs; economic development and change; class, gender, and ethnicity; ideology and political punditry; cultural production in the arts; letters, music, and popular entertainment; and the environmental issues.

For the second edition, an epilogue has been added looking at Japan today and tomorrow, paying particular attention to environmental and diplomatic issues.

About the Author

Conrad Totman is Professor Emeritus at Yale University. He has also taught Japanese history at the University of California, Santa Barbara and at Northwestern University. He is the author of ten previous books, including Japan before Perry: A Short History (1981), Early Modern Japan (1993) and Pre-industrial Korea and Japan in Environmental Perspective (2004).