"Since its first edition, Hane's text has served as an excellent guide to modern Japanese history, thanks largely to the clarity of his writing, unbiased voice, and efforts to humanize the story, most notably by including the experiences of peasants, women, and other minorities too often overlooked. Perez, to his credit, has made the text even more accessible to students and general readers. Not only has he seamlessly woven in updated material and editorially improved the flow of the narrative, but his expansion of the bibliography and chronological chart and inclusion of a new section on internet sources have significantly enhanced the text's usefulness as a resource." --Elizabeth Dorn Lublin, Wayne State University "Mikiso Hane, with Louis Perez's updates, provides us once again with a text that treats the political, economic, intellectual, cultural, and, social history of Japan up to current times. Women and minorities are fully included in this readable yet detailed history of modern Japan." --Ann M. Harrington, Loyola University Chicago.