Long recognized as an authority on Japanese history, Marius Jansen synthesizes a lifetime of scholarship in this landmark book. Bringing together the series of Brown and Haley lectures delivered in 1975 at the University of Puget Sound, Japan and Its World continues to be a source of insight for anyone interested in the changing ideas the Japanese have had of themselves, the United States, and the Western world during the past two centuries.
Marius Jansen is Professor Emeritus of History and East Asian Studies at Princeton University.
"Hierarchy in Japan and its connection with Japanese images of the world have been written about many times before, but Jansen's judgment, his warm and conversational tone, and his artful skill at connecting individuals with historical trends render the story all the more intriguing. . . . A nice synthesis and a sensible introduction to the subject of how the Japanese have sought to order the outside world in a way to find their place within it."—Michael W. Donnelly, Pacific Affairs
"Jansen, one of the most prolific and stimulating western historians of Japan, has produced a remarkable, comprehensive but at the same time amazingly compact study of Japan's changing attitudes to the world."—Jean-Pierre Lehmann, History
"No other Western scholar has written so extensively or so mastered the literature on aspects of this subject."—Kenneth B. Pyle, Journal of Asian Studies
