Christopher Harding (1) (1978–)

An excellent, readable history of a fascinating period; I confess, this is precisely what I was looking for at the time, so I'm not entirely unbiased, but I still feel free to recommend this to anyone other than scholars of this exact thing (who will probably take exception to all sorts of details, as scholars ought to do). Harding covers a lot of territory, and does an exceptionable job of balancing various aspects of history: there's enough high-politics to give context, but not so much show more that you get bogged down in it; there's great, great stuff on culture; and, most importantly, there's no attempt to offer ludicrous definitions of 'the' Japanese soul or whatever. It's a populous country. There are lots of different people there. Harding focuses on unexpected protagonists--psychoanalysts, novelists, victims of oppression, feminists, socialists. But he doesn't act as if everyone was an analyst, novelist, victim, feminist, or socialist. There are plenty of gangsters, conservatives and so on, as well. My only complaint is that the last few chapters felt more ripped-right-from-the-headlines than the rest of the book. That's what happens when you write history of present, though. Also: his goodreads profile is adorable. show less

Well thought-out concept for consuming 2000 years of Japanese history. Some surprising but very interesting choices. Each life is about 20 pages so it’s easy to get through the whole book without getting losing patience with the endeavour. Recommended to anyone interested in Japan.

As a survey of modern Japan (i.e. from 1850 to 2018) this is a valuable source. It profits from emphasis on aspects about which Western readers tend not to be well enough informed. The spiritual, psychoanalytic and literary forces that shape the history of Japan are given fair treatment alongside those historical and cultural facets of Japanese that most of are familiar with.
So, jazz, a vital long-standing women's rights movement, ultra-nationalism, psychotherapy, painting, corporate show more industry, environmental hazards, all receive as adequate a review as can be expected.
The account of this turbulent history is set out in a fresh and engaging style that doesn't flag or dwell unnecessarily.
There's is a huge bibliography that would take a lifetime to read and a thorough chronology. Everything to recommend about this great book. show less

This splendid book begins with a surprisingly difficult question: Who are the Japanese?
Harding uses 20 life stories, from the shaman queen Himiko, the first known Japanese individual in history, to the present-day empress, Masako ... plenty of enjoyable individual details: Dominic Sandbrook, The Times, Books of the Year.