Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan by Giles Milton ISBN: 0-14-200378-6 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 30 December, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.96 (24 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Great, great book
Comment: A superb, readable history loosely organized around William Adams, the real Anjin-Sama. Adams' achievements were extraordinary; Clavell didn't have to stretch all that much to create the Blackthorn character in Shogun. The incredible voyage across the two oceans, and then surviving against all odds to achieve prominence and nobility status as a foreigner in medieval Japan are riveting accounts.
Writing with great lucidity, Milton relies a lot on personal and British East India company correspondence to paint this portrait of not only Williams, but of the budding efforts of the English to participate in Asian commerce. Thus, we read not only about Adams, but about an failed ocean adventure above Russian seeking a route through the ice packs, tromping through Siam in search of rare woods, tension with the Spanish, tensions with the Dutch, and about the tight-fisted prudes back in the London office disapproving of their factors whoring their way across Asia. A cast of characters --some funny, some diabolical, many mediocre-- flesh out Milton's portrait of early English commercial efforts. Milton also gives us some interesting insight into the cultur of and politics of Japan at the time of Tokugawa Ieyasu's assention to the Shogunate. A lot of attention is given not just to commerce, but to the inextricably linked issue of religion. Missionaries' efforts in Japan make for a fascinating and unique read, since Japan was so much more sophisticated than either the those the Europeans typically missioned to, as well as the Europeans themselves.
The communication gap between the Japanese and the Europeans, and William's ability to overcome it, bears careful attention. The few pages about Ieyasu's brilliant defeat Osaka castle is fascinating by itself.
I read the hardcover version, which had a wonderful rough cut on the edge, which may make some prefer that over the paperback.
Rating: 2
Summary: Good writing, questionable history
Comment: Like most reviewers before me, I was quite enthralled with the story of William Adams, the foremost Englishman in early Tokugawa Japan period. I supposed the recent released of Shogun on DVD have inspired me to read this book since the main character of that show was based on the titled character. The book was well written but like one reviewer before me stated, it relied totally on European sources which have a tendencies to be very inaccurate or even bias. How can one write anything on Japan at all without Japanese sources. A good example of this was when the author described Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu as "sadistic" for the way he dealt with the Christians. Considering that he was considered as quite an enlightened ruler by many historians, the author totally failed to point out that Iemitsu's actions against the Christians took on a devastating scale only after the Japanese Christians and their padres mounted a full scale revolt at Shimabara Castle in 1637. While considered as a "peasant revolt", primary fighting forces were Christians. This revolt shocked the Tokugawa bakufu to the core which led to drastic reaction. Such oversight like this cheapen the accuracy of the well written words. (What ruler in Europe would not have done the same if a large group of Buddhists joined a large scale revolt against crown and realm??)
While the book was supposed to be on William Adams, it basically centered around the English effort to promote trade with Japan. Ironically, it might be hard to regard this as Adams' biography at all. He seem to be a background character a lot of time. What really hurt this book was that the author appears to be totally unfamiliar with Japanese history and totally lacks Japanese sources. Would a book on English history be any worth if there was no English sources?? Two stars for good writing and entertaining reading material though, can't fault the man's skill with the English language!
PS: In that revolt mentioned above, Dutch provided a warship that help pummeled that revolt to the ground. It was probably one of the major reasons why the Dutch kept their trade base opened while all other European powers did not.
Rating: 5
Summary: Turning Japanese
Comment: Milton's "Samurai William" is a brilliantly researched story about William Adams, a smart young fellow from England with very little pedigree but a facility for Oriental languages and a deft negotiating style. Upon reaching Japan he survived the customary welcome for foreigners (viz. public beheading) and then parlayed his way into a trade monopoly, cleverly outsting (or sometimes merely outlasting) the Dutch and Portuguese traders. Adams had one solid advantage over his fellow Westerners: humility (or at least an ability to fake it). (If there's one thing that this story teaches you, it's the occasional importance of remaining silent while the blowhards self-destruct.) Milton is also unsparing about the macarbre execution rituals of seventeenth-century Japanese society.
 |
Title: Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton ISBN: 0140292608 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 03 July, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
 |
Title: The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveller by Giles Milton ISBN: 031242129X Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: Big Chief Elizabeth: The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America by Giles Milton ISBN: 0312420188 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: The Last Samurai : The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori by Mark Ravina ISBN: 0471089702 Publisher: Wiley Pub. Date: 14 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: The Great Wave: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of Old Japan by Christopher Benfey ISBN: 0375503277 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
