The Human Tradition in Modern Japan

I read this book for a Japanese History class. The book covers from 1600 to about 1990 the lives of famous and ordinary Japanese men and women. It was refreshing to read about how the political side of history has impacted people and society. Highly recommended!

Ably edited by Anne Walthall (Professor of Japanese history at the University of California, Irvine), The Human Tradition In Modern Japan by is an assemblage of short biographies of ordinary Japanese men and women, most of whom were not well-known outside their home area, spanning the seventeenth through twentieth centuries. Highly recommended for readers with an interest in Japanese history and culture, The Human Tradition In Modern Japan approaches Japanese history and society in a different light, as it debunks commonly myths in the United States about Japan being an entirely "homogenous" society, and successfully presents life in Japan as people really lived it from the 17th to the 20th centuries.