A History of Modern Japan

“Lucid and lyrical…a vivid history of Japan’s turbocharged (and painful) modernisation. One of the best accounts I’ve ever read on what happens–for better and worse–when a country’s relationship with the world is abruptly renegotiated…will stand as a major survey in modern Japan.”– The Telegraph”[Harding] has considerable talent as a storyteller–Most of all, he transforms his material into an ultra-progressive account of modern Japanese history…ushered to the front are those that the so-called patriarchy attempted to repress: the maverick women, socialist thinkers and doubters of the state version of modernity…enlivened at every turn with flashes of wit…an enormously readable book.” – The Japan Times“Although the broad outlines of the story were familiar (as they will be to every reader) almost all the more detailed information was new to me. I thought the book was masterly in the intermeshing of the personal and the political, the quotidian and the spiritual, the psychoanalytic with the journalistic, the long-historical with the contemporary, and everywhere finding and highlighting the poetic and the aesthetic.” – Neil MacGregor Director of Humboldt Forum and former Director of The British Museum

Christopher Harding is a cultural historian of modern Japan, South Asia and the UK, and a Senior Lecturer in Asian History at the University of Edinburgh. He grew up in London before pursuing a B.A. in History, MSt. in Historical Research and PhD in South Asian History–all at Oxford. He lived and worked in Japan for three years through a Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation scholarship. Christopher has written numerous articles for scholarly journals as well as for newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian, The New York Times, BBC History Magazine and History Today. He also appears regularly on radio and TV (BBC, ABC), presenting on a wide range of subjects such as religion, politics, culture and mental health.