Postwar Japan as History

Japan's catapult to world economic power has inspired many studies by social scientists, but few have looked at the 45 years of postwar Japan through the lens of history. The contributors to this book seek to offer such a view. As they examine three related themes of postwar history, the authors describe an ongoing historical process marked by unexpected changes, such as Japan's extraordinary economic growth, and unanticipated continuities, such as the endurance of conservative rule. A provocative set of interpretative essays by eminent scholars, this book will appeal to anyone interested in the history of twentieth-century Japan and the dilemmas facing Japan today.

Andrew Gordon is Professor of History at Duke University. His latest book, Labor and Imperial Democracy in Prewar Japan (California, 1990), won the John K. Fairbank Prize of the American Historical Association.

Peace and Democracy in Two Systems: External Policy and Internal Conflict, John W. Dower
Japan's Position in the World System, Bruce Cumings
The Past in the Present, Carol Gluck
Defining Growth: Debates on Economic Strategies, Laura E. Hein
The Structure and Transformation of Conservative Rule, Gary D. Allinson
Negotiating Social Contracts, Sheldon Garon and Mike Mochizuki
Dialectics of Economic Growth, National Power, and Distributive Struggles Koji Taira
Finding a Place in Metropolitan Japan: Transpositions of Everyday Life, William Kelly
Formations of Mass Culture, Marilyn Ivy
Consuming and Saving, Charles Yuji Horioka
The Death of "Good Wife, Wise Mother", Kathleen S. Uno
Unplaced Persons and Movements for Place, Frank K. Upham
Altered States: The Body Politics of "Being Woman", Sandra Buckley
Contests for the Workplace, Andrew Gordon
Intellectuals and Politics, J. Victor Koschmann
The Dynamics of Political Opposition, James W. White