The modern history of Japan - Andrew Gordon

The Modern History of Japan covers Japanese history from approximately 1800--the last decades of rule by the military lords of the Tokugawa family--to the start of the twenty-first century. It begins when a crisis-ridden political and social order intersected with fast emerging Euro-American power. It then analyzes Japan's modern revolution of the late 19th century: the rise of a modern nation-state structure, the evolution of a capitalist industrial society, and thesurprising move from semi-colony of the west to imperialist power. The second half of the book examines Japan's twentieth-century trajectory from global power through devastating war and defeat and occupation. It concludes by investigating the postwar history of contemporary Japan.