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In the tradition of Jonathan Spence's The Search for Modern China, an authoritative, comprehensive, up-to-date modern history of Japan. In a brilliant history of Japan drawn from the top down and the bottom up, one of our best young historians conveys the turbulent political, economic, and social change that over four centuries positioned Japan as a modern world power. James McClain's compelling narrative conveys the impact of towering historical figures such as Ieyasu, the architect of the Tokugawa state, and the experiences of the Japanese everymanfarmers, soldiers, womenwhose struggles built a strong and prosperous nation. Not simply a success story, McClain's history traces the advances and reversals that marked Japan's path from a land ruled by lords and a warrior class to a modern parliamentary democracy, and from a small isolationist nation to a worldwide political and economic giant. McClain seasons his history with samplings of Japanese culture, from the exquisite haiku of Basho to the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Oe Kenzaburo. 70 b/w illustrations, 15 maps.