A History of Japan to 1334 |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Hurricanes > Item 248
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A History of Japan to 1334
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by George Sansom
Sales Rank: 478025
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List Price: $36.95
$30.23
At Amazon
on 10-17-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 512 pages
Published by: Stanford University PressEdition: 1st Edition June 1, 1958
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0804705232
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0804705233
Book Dimensions:
8.9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
Weighs: 1.6 pounds
Reader Reviews
While all four reviewers give Sansom's 3-vol. history high marks for readability and accuracy, several note that it is somewhat dated, and that the alternative Cambridge History of Japan is rather pricey for most students or casual readers -- $750 for all 6 volumes through Amazon, at the moment. This raises several issues which merit consideration. George Sansom is probably the last of the great solo historians of Japan, following James Murdoch (1903, 1910, 1926) and Frank Brinkley (1915). Today the mass of information is too great for any one individual to digest and integrate, and any book covering the entire history of Japan will inevitably be a collaboration. Hence the 6-volume Cambridge History in which, for example, Volume 3 ("Medieval Japan," i.e., the Kamakura and Muromachi periods) consists of an introduction followed by 13 articles by distinguished scholars. This makes the set somewhat bumpy to read when compared to a single, integrated narrative history; and it raises the question of whether one might be better off with a timeline and, say, the 2-volume Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (Kodansha 1993), condensed from the 10-vol. original (1985) Encyclopedia of Japan, now offered on Amazon.com for an amazing $95!!! Or something even less pricey but still adequate. In any case, the day of the one-man band seems to be over: Gibbon was a very busy fellow indeed, and we are not likely to see a repeat performance any time soon. A few more items of interest. Sansom is variously identified on Amazon.com and elsewhere as George Sansom, G. Sansom, George Bailey Sansom, G. B. Sansom, George B. Sansom, and Sir George Sansom (yes, he was knighted in 1935 and again in 1947). He himself uses three of the above. The 3-vol. set is signed "George Sansom," but the earlier Japan: A Short Cultural History (1931; Revised Edition, 1943) has G.B. Sansom. Also, his third volume of the series stops at 1867. Sansom's stated reason for not continuing his history beyond this year is that he had lived too close to events of the Meiji Restoration (1868) for him to develop a perspective that only distance could supply. For readers interested in later events, The Making of Modern Japan(2000; 2002), by Marius B. Jansen, another outstanding scholar of Japanese history, would be a good choice. Since this history begins at 1600, there are overlapping accounts of the Edo period, but from two quite different perspectives. In short, this set is a good buy and is likely to remain a standard text for decades to come.
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A History of Japan to 1334
Available from Amazon
Price: $30.23
Updated on 10-17-2008.
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