Eastern University Books

Ozaki was a real original, a samurai fighting for political modernization and responsible government. Elected to the very first Diet in 1890, he served for more than 60 turbulent years. He knew everyone in Japanese public life and draws sharp portraits of them and their actions. The story is told clearly enough (with annotations where needed) and vividly enough to serve as an introduction to Japan's political history. The editing and translation, by Ozaki's grand-daughter, is excellent.

Will O'Neil

Book includes over 85 photographs, 60 tables, 48 maps, and 40 figures. Here is an excerpt from the book's preface:

" The book is divided into six parts. Part 1 describes field study methods and discusses hawk identification. Part 2 provides an extensive survey of the most important or useful eastern North American hawk lookouts. The survey thus serves a a catalog of sites of exceptional ornithological importance. Hopefully conservationists will be able to benefit from this survey by being able to visit many more hawk lookouts than previously were known to them. Parts 3 through 6 detail technical aspects of autumn hawk migrations. Even novices will find much of this information of value, however. The list of literature cited also will lead interested persons to sources of much fascinating reading."

Ambaras's painstakingly researched and exceptionally well-written "Bad Youth" provides a highly informative and often intriguing account of the culture of juvenile delinquency in Japan from early modern times. Detailed descriptions of youthful deviance and authoritative countermeasures are skillfully interwoven with the stories of individuals to create a masterful tapestry of the "feverish public discourse" on delinquency that arose as Japan ascended to world power status.

In addition to presenting a historical account of delinquency, Ambaras builds an impressive argument for the continued influence of pre-war and wartime pedagogy on more recent policies towards youth. The far-reaching implications of these policies in the post-war economic and social spheres are sure to impress the reader.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of juvenile delinquency or the development of the modern Japanese nation. The depth of research and style of presentation combine to form a surprisingly thought-provoking (and entertaining) work.

I am Balinese and live in Ubud. Walter Spies lived here in the Thirties, just opposite where my restaurant now is. My mother worked for him.

I was therefore delighted when this book came out. The text is clear and well-written and interesting on many counts. It sets out the history of early tourism to Bali when many famous people visited the island and they all met Walter Spies.

Many of the photographs have not been published before. Walter Spies was an excellent photographer and he had an intimate knowledge of Bali and the Balinese. He was involved in all aspects of Balinese life.

This is a book that everyone who is interested in Bali should have.

Dr. Yun's book describes key concepts and history regarding Spirit baptism, compares different beliefs about Spirit baptism, and considers future implications. It is an excellent ecumenical reference written from a Classical Pentecostal persepective. The book explores the diversity and commonalities between nine reputable theologian's Spirit baptism views. Dr. Yun's sensitive and thorough analysis fosters an openness and respect of horizons. This is key to understanding rationales behind beliefs and to move towards a holistic view of Spirit baptism.

Today, it is rare to find an academic work that attempts to fit into more than one narrow field. The book by Scully (a classmate of mine years ago) is valuable to those interested gender studies, US-East Asian relations, and more traditional diplomatic history. She examines how Americans living in China's treaty ports, including prostitutes, merchants, and criminals, sought to take advantage of their citizenship and the privileges it offered under the unequal treaties. In fact, the actions of some Americans in China so worried the diplomatic establishment that officials attempted to "rein in" their own citizens, or even remove them from China. Overall, this is book proves that U.S. diplomatic history means more than the actions of Secretaries of State and ambassadors.

Working in Egypt the last four years, plus 1986-1988, has given me opportunity and desire to learn every possible nuance within Egyptian society.

Bedouin Life has been one of the excellent sources of information and has helped shape how I see not only the desert dwellers, but how I see even myself.

Few books on this small segment of the population here are worth so much as one chapter of this fine book. Buy it but remember it is helpful most specifically in understanding an imperceptibly small group - do not for a minute think it describes even a small part of most Egyptians. We at LJ's Breaking Free$ are proud to recommend this book to all our friends - Bill Anderson.

I am a music composer and I have found the essays by Bartok compiled in this book very interesting and helpful. For example, there are several essays describing how Bartok organized many of his compositions. There are also several essays describing different types of folk music such as American, Rumanian, and Hungarian. There is an essay on the 'So-called Bulgarian Rhythm.' I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in learing about different types of folk music or anything about Bela Bartok and is compositions.

Property rights sounds like a boring subject, but if you're interested in imperial Russia, this is a must read. The exploration of this seemingly narrow issue by Farrow opens up to a host of important and often surprising and novel observations and insights.

The Korean Choson dynasty was the longest-lasting dynasty in East Asian history, stretching from 1392, one hundred years before Columbus discovered America, all the way to 1910, to the eve of World War One. Yet, historians have yet to provide satisfactory explanations for such amazing stability. Over the course of its history, Choson would suffer brutal invasions by Japanese samurai and Manchu horsemen and yet, its government still strictly and successfully maintained a strict social hierarchy that privileged a small aristocratic stratum, the so-called yangban, at the expense of the marginalized majority, which included impoverished peasants and chattel slaves. To those of us educated in the West, such a system may seem almost unimaginable, a structure doomed to collapse.

In this book, Eugene Y. Park presents an interesting answer to why and how exactly the "oppressive" Choson system not only persisted, but very much flourished for over five hundred years. Namely, he explores the place of the military in Choson society and, from there, gleans some very satisfactory conclusions to our query.

Park argues that, in late Choson Korea, the military's chief recruiting method, the military exam, functioned as a social leaven that fed the status aspirations of various non-yangban groups, such as merchants, former slaves, and illegitimate sons. These groups were barred from taking the more prestigious civil examination, which served the entryway to government service and political power. Moreover, some yangban families with histories of passing the civil examination gradually came to prefer the military exam, due to the dangers of violent factional politics in the central government.

For social historians of any era or country, this study should be read, as Park provides an interesting case study of one system's ability to satisfy mass status aspirations while still keeping political power in the hands of a select few. Moreover, for students and scholars of Korean history, Park's book will answer many questions that preoccupy the field. The book not only helps answer the classic query of "why did Choson last so long?"; it also answers very important questions regarding why marginalized groups in Choson did not resist more violently, why the military came to accept a subordinate position to civil authority, and whether Choson society was facing serious social changes in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Overall, Park presents a precisely argued work that should satisfy specialist and non-specialist alike.