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Title: A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower by Kenneth G. Henshall, Palgrave Macmillan ISBN: 1-4039-1272-6 Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Pub. Date: 01 September, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.01

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Average Customer Rating: 4.17 (6 reviews)

Rating: 1
Summary: Disappointment
Comment: This book turned out to be a great disappointment. First of all, instead of providing a detailed description of historical events, it consists of a large number of facts about Japanese history, accompanied by the author's commentary. A great deal of information contains no or very little amount of detail; instead you can find numerous references to outside sources that often seem out of place to a reader unfamiliar with those works. For example, the description of the first Mongol invasion, considered by many as one of crucial points in Japanese history, is only 8 lines (p.33 last paragraph)!!! The second Mongol invasion was squeezed into another 12 lines (p.34 3rd paragraph). The total length of the description of that period amounts to only about 1 page.

Second of all, despite the author's claim in the preface that "the story needs to be told from the beginning" (p. xi), the book mainly concentrates on the recent events in Japanese history. Almost nine hundred years of Japanese medieval history are represented in mere 27 pages of the 240 page book; the period from 1600 to 1868 is represented by 32 pages, and the remaining century takes up the rest of the book.

Thirdly, instead of telling us a historical tale this book presents us with the author's opinion on particular events and his ranking of their importance. Mr. Henshall often rushes to insert his view of the events instead of letting his readers draw their own conclusions.

And lastly, the overall format of the book resembles the format of a doctoral dissertation more than a historical text and it reads as easily as a report on annual crops production. It is filled with numbers and statistics, which might come handy on a Jeopardy game but have no value if you plan to talk to someone about Japan for more than five minutes.

My overall suggestion is to stay away from this book. If I had bought it in a store and not on the internet, I would definitely return it.

Rating: 5
Summary: Good Guide to Japan
Comment: Textbooks are no fun; that has always been the case. It is a lot more fun to learn something when you aren't thrown at a bunch of names and dates and expected to understand everything from those facts. Kenneth G. Henshall's A History of Japan doesn't seem like much of a textbook and perhaps it wasn't meant to be one. The only textbook like element that pushes the textbook like quality is the index in the back, but how can you not have an index in a history book?
The first really good quality of this book is the length. It may seem impossible to complete an insightful history of a nation in two hundred pages, but Henshall manages too. He knows exactly what to talk about, and has a very good idea of what would be interesting to the reader. He touches on all important facts, dates, and events but does so in a much better narrative method than a typical textbook would. The whole work is written like a good story book as opposed to something that is supposed to force learning. When reading it, the reader doesn't feel like he's being spoon-fed bits of information to swallow. Henshall manages to convey all the information necessary without sacrificing reading quality. This interesting technique allows you to be able to zoom through chapters and sections and yet be able to retain information that you have read. The only minor downfall of his technique is that sometimes the reader manages to get through a topic so fast that he or she need to go back and look at it again to understand what they have read.
Another great aspect of this book is detail. Henshall brings in a ton of interesting facts and tidbits of uncommonly known information. This plays on the reader's curiosity and encourages him to continue reading on. Henshall is great at throwing in information that isn't in typical textbooks and maybe thought of as excessive by other authors. It's these extras that allow the reader to gain a broader insight into the topic and feel as if they are part of the action. Descriptively Henshall is very clever as well. He is a good narrator and builds up scenes that allow the reader to visualize that which is being discussed. Henshall never goes too far, when describing something gruesome or shocking he never steps over the interest boundary and into the territories of disgust.
A third good characteristic of this work is the inclusion of events outside Japan. The author manages to tie in events going on around the world into those in Japan. If Japan is ever affected by something outside of its borders, Henshall makes sure to explain why. Henshall also makes sure to note when something done by the Japanese affects the rest of the world. The time related references are great as well. If something is significant enough, Henshall will make sure to state why this came about or how this will affect the future. He manages to convey all this without confusing and losing the reader.
Seemingly, the best quality of this book is that Henshall isn't an American. Perhaps his audience outside of the United States would take this fact for granted, but it is greatly appreciated. When reading something written by a non-American, the reader is offered a completely different perspective. There are things mentioned that an American author might hesitate to say. It is great to feel as if one is looking at Japan from somewhere other than the United States. It is also very enjoyable to read commentaries on American actions from a third party stand point. This whole take is very refreshing.
Overall, this book may not be for everyone. Every person learns differently, some need information deposited directly into their heads, while others absorb it. This book isn't very direct about anything it presents. While all the facts are there, they aren't highlighted in gold and are in need of notice. If the reader is one who can notice facts and absorb them well, then this text is perfect; if the reader is someone who needs a more direct approach when being educated, then they may need to pass on this work and seek something more conventional.

Rating: 4
Summary: The first book to read
Comment: There are really two types of people who will read a history of Japan: serious students and casual readers who wish to be reasonably well informed. In either case, this should be the first book one reads. Henshall is an authority on Japanese language and culture, so right off it is a credible text. For the casual reader, the language is fairly prosaic and easily digestible. While it deals a wonderful overview, with no dearth of specific information and credited sources, it does not (wisely) attempt to exhaust the subject. There is even chapter-by-chapter timeline and summary, though for the casual reader the timeline may be difficult to keep in one's mind; students have the advantage of being reinforced by other resources. I strongly recommend, as you read, writing out the timeline in a notebook and reinforcing the many names the same way. However, there is nothing particularly new here (except for drawing upon several sources in anthropology and archaeology which might previously not have been used in the same secondary source), so if you have a semester of Japanese history you can safely skip this book. The reason it gets only 4 stars in this review is simply because I believe that no 'generalized' reader can be THE book to have no matter its quality -- it is the one disadvantage of this type of book. However, I cannot recommend it more highly.