Japan: History and Culture from Classical to Cool

by Nancy K. Stalker

History and Culture from Classical to Cool provides a historical account of Japan’s elite and popular cultures from premodern to modern periods. Drawing on the most up-to-date scholarship across numerous disciplines, Nancy K. Stalker presents the key historical themes, cultural trends, and religious developments throughout Japanese history. Focusing on everyday life and ordinary consumption, this is the first textbook of its kind to explore both imperial and colonial culture and offer expanded content on issues pertaining to gender and sexuality. Organized into fourteen chronological and thematic chapters, this text explores some of the most notable and engaging aspects of Japanese life and is well suited for undergraduate classroom use.  

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Japan, Japanese History, Audiobook

452 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 14, 2018

Reviews

[Yulia Kazachkova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Читать всем, кто хочет быстро немного понять Японию. Вот прям так, быстро и немного. Запомнить все невозможно, но картинка вырисовывается, а визуализировать ее и закрепить помогает список рекомендованных фильмов как иллюстрация разных эпох и событий. Бесценно.

История и культура, подробно 20 век, это добротное историческое и социо-культурное исследование, очень живое и не занудное.

Мне пришлось быстро глотать в переводе и в аудио, но они неплохи)

[Karrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool--dug the collective overview and writings on all things Japan :)

[Bram · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda cool, but not amazing.

I wanted to learn more about Japan before going on a holiday there, and I did learn a lot by reading this book!

But the book is just that; it's more informative than entertaining. It's written as a list of things the author wanted to touch upon, not really strung together in an engaging narrative. Still cool though.

I suppose the author is a fantastic historian, but not a great writer

[Anastasia Sidorova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Неплохая книга о Японии. Но мне показалось нудновато и местами напоминала учебник по истории со школьных времен. И в целом, как-т очень поверхностно.

[Choi Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read and memorized the whole freaking book for my exam so it's going on my reading list idc.

Too much detail on random stories and too many unnecessary fancy words but I guess she kinda ironically funny.

[Amelia Zurcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent a long time looking for the perfect introduction to Japanese history and this is it!! I love the accessibility of this book. And the author’s attention to all people touched by this history is incredible. It’s definitely a book I’ll hold onto because of the further reading and recommended films in each chapter.

[Drew Tschirki · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is hard to fit 2000 years of history and culture into a 399 page book. I felt that from the Genroku period and on was very rich in detail and I flew through that. The previous half of the book wasn't as interesting, which is sad because pre Genroku is what I am primarily interested in. Also, the cover art is far from cool and the quality of the physical book wasn't great. One of the best parts was Stalker's extensive use of notes and resources for future reading. Overall, I enjoyed it, but not as much as I was expecting to. This is a great book for those casually interested in the complex history and cultural evolution of Japan. For true history buffs I recommend George Sansom's A History of Japan series.

[Alexandr Mudrov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Монументальное, но вместе с тем очень захватывающее исследование истории и культуры Японии. Автор постаралась отразить буквально все: и политику, и культуру, и быт страны. Конечно, показать историю целой страны в одной книге подробно невозможно, но все основные понятия, события, личности описаны. И описаны настолько интересным, живым, простым и запоминающимся образом, что даже спустя несколько дней после прочтения я продолжаю размышлять о книге, о Японии. Однозначно рекомендую тем, кто хочет немного прикоснуться к загадочной Японии, вы не будете разочарованы.

[Kate Solo · Rating 3 out of 5]

*русский язык ниже
Not bad introduction to the Japanese history. But I’m still have questions.
Для первого знакомства с японской историей книга неплохая, но не стоить ожидать слишком многого. Начиная с 20-го века становится понятнее и интереснее, но это самая маленькая часть книги.

[Viktoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,7

[SnezhArt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Отличная книжуля, когда хочется, чтобы про страну с разных сторон и достаточно подробно, но не до профильного погружения.

[Dmitry Tsvetkov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Очень кратко и максимально интересно.

[王维蔚WeiweiWang · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather unfiltered report on the history of Japan. Through the last few chapters on 20th century Japanese history, the “cool” Japan concept is also regarded with slight sarcasm.

[Aditya N · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful primer to Japanese history.

[Vilena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve read way more engaging books on the history and culture of Japan, but good effort for attempting to compile centuries of events and the etiology of many Japanese cultural phenomena into two mini volumes.