The Making of Modern Japan by Marius Jansen
I am currently reading this incredible book by the late Professor Jansen. I am about 1/3 of the way through. It is an incredible book and worth the blood, sweat, tears and time to get through it. I did a quick google search for the book and found a very good "capsule" review of the book on the Foreign Affairs website. The reviewer, Lucian W. Pye writes:
This magisterial work [The Making of Modern Japan] has all the details one would want in a reference work, but the mature reflections of a lifelong Japan scholar at Princeton make it a pleasure to read. Last year, the Japanese recognized Jansen's learning by decreeing him a "National Treasure: A Person of Cultural Merit." (Jansen, who died just as the book was published, is the only foreigner ever to have been so honored.) Nearly half of the book is devoted to the Tokugawa period, when Japan became an integrated feudal state and put in place many of the fundamentals essential for modern nation-building. Jansen answers the question of whether the Meiji Restoration destined Japan to authoritarianism by detailing the interwar period, when Japan went far in the liberal, democratic direction. At every turn, Jansen looks behind the political stage to examine cultural and social developments. He avoids abstract theorizing by recounting the experiences of specific Japanese individuals, giving the story a strong human dimension. This authoritative work goes up to the present and ends with Japan's current economic problems. [See review here.]
To get a small taste of Jansen's writing ability and insights, you can also read this 1990 paper called [pdf link] "The Opening of Japan." I agree with Jansen when he writes:
Within half a century of its forced opening by the West it [Japan] had begun the building of an industrial system, installed the institutions of a modern state, and scored impressive victories over China and Tsarist Russia. Freed of the restictions of the unequal treaties, allied with Great Britain, master of Taiwan and soon of Korea, Japan was poised to alter permanently the balance of political power, and soon the balance of economic power, in East Asia and the Pacific world. On that dimension the opening of Japan was indeed a change with permanent significance for world history.[PDF download of "The Opening of Japan]
As I said, I am only a third of the way through the book but highly recommend it for anyone who is serious about studying Japan. You can buy it from Amazon @ The Making of Modern Japan
. No doubt Chiang Kai-shek is a significant historical 20th century figure. I am looking forward to reading Taylor's account. In the meantime, I found an interview with Jay Taylor, the author of 