Gordon, Andrew, Ed. Postwar Japan as History. University of California Press, Ltd.: Oxford, England. 1993.

This book is a collection of essays all dealing with issues concerning postwar Japan edited by Andrew Gordon. The essays were contributed by a wide range of professors from prestigious universities such as John W. Dower, Carol Gluck, and Koji Taira. All of the essays included in this book relate to a number of general issues of postwar history ranging from economics to politics to democracy to culture. In compiling this book, the goal was to give students a number of coherent essays for reference as well as place the postwar history of Japan in a larger context by comparing it with Western Societies.

After reviewing this book, I felt it served as a comprehensive collection of essays from some very reliable sources, and basically serves to paint a good picture of postwar Japan. There was a wide range of viewpoints and it covered a broad range of topics. However, I thought the extent of the book was rather limiting in some aspects as it only dealt with certain issues. One would have to turn elsewhere for commentaries on some of the other key issues concerning postwar Japan, such as rural life and the effects of the atomic bombs, which hinders this book as a reference somewhat. However, what this book does outline, it does a good job with, and is a source to consider when looking at the postwar era of Japan.

-Eloise Melzer