Modern History of Japan by William Gerald Beasley

The complex socio economical dynamics behind the balance required to reach those modern institutions, that then fell into militaristic rule, still was the blueprint of japan incredible advances in the 80s.įor those seeking to understand how Japan transitioned from 19th century feudal agrarianism to an industrial 20th century nation-state, WG Beasley’s 1963 “The Modern History of Japan” provides answers. What surprise me most was the advanced almost democratic institutions that japan had already achieved before WW2, making it not just an american importation, but modern institutions witg which the country was already familiar. 'Such a situation makes it difficult for the historian, as it did for contemporaries, to allocate responsibility for decisions, a circumstance that needs to be borne in mind when reading the narrative which follows' The author is gracefully objective, and gained my full confidence when he warn the reader of oversimplification and of too much trust in his writing, such as in this passage : It is a wonderful simplification to kept in mind in order to understand Japan's modernization, without loosing too much of nuances and limitations of the phenomenon described. The description of complex social change is reduced easily by the author to its main components easily understood.

The fact that the version i read was from 1967, and so could almost predict the amazing rise of Japan in the 80s, make it even more an amazing read. Amazingly well written book, nuanced and with demonstrated objectivity.

Modern History of Japan by William Gerald Beasley