A Brief History of the Samurai by Jonathan Clements

A Brief History of the Samurai by Jonathan Clements

This history wasn’t quite brief enough for me and it seemed to get bogged down in individuals rather than talk about the phenomenon of the samurai, their ethics, their skills, and all the things that we think of when we think samurai. Perhaps that is because the modern idea of bushido and the samurai is largely a myth created after the age of the samurai was over. Whatever the reason, I enjoyed the book but when I finished, I felt like the first and last chapters contained most of what I got out of it.