A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations

by Conrad Schirokauer

A brief introductory text that emphasizes cultural history while also covering political and economic history. Chapters are brief and each major Chinese dynasty, Japanese Shogunate, or other discrete period is treated in a separate chapter. Encounters with the West (beginning in the 16th century) are extensively covered.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Japan, China, Asia, Japanese Literature, Textbooks

704 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1978

Reviews

[Abraham]

A good overview of Japanese and Chinese history

[Ian]

good

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 2 out of 5]

En grund översikt, som dock har fördelen att den har ett väldigt allsidigt perspektiv.

[Ritsumei · Rating 1 out of 5]

We had to read this thing in college; it is a fantastic example of all that is wrong with a textbook: devoid of any literary value, it's incredibly dry. Added to that is the way that it sabotaged the student: years after I was done with college, I dug it out to learn about a particular Chinese emperor, mentioned in other reading I was enjoying at the time. I realized then why it had been so difficult to follow in school: in addition to all the names of people and places being entirely new, Chinese emperors have 3 names: one they use prior to ascending the throne, one they use during their reign, and one they are given posthumously. This book used all three in a single paragraph, without any explanation: no wonder I had such a hard time following it in school! Asian history is fascinating; choose a book that tells the story well, remember that textbooks are terrible, and steer clear of this thing. In the end, I didn't even donate or sell it: I threw it away.

[Matt Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read most of this for a class (up to 1945). Verbose.

[Alys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I use it as a starting point to identify a time or incident, then use other source materials for research. It is brief, after all.