A History of Nationalism in Modern Japan ─ Placing the People

Drawing on some 20 years of studying the literature on Japanese nationalism, Doak (Japanese studies, Georgetown U.) examines the debates over Japanese national identity and nationalism. Coverage includes an overview of major developments in nationalism theory; a survey of the social hierarchy and decentralized political structure of the early 19th century as preconditions for nationalism; the role of the monarchy in raising and suppressing nationalist aspirations; nationalism as seen from the perspective of influential Japanese theorists, including an analysis of the concept of society--shakai--in modern Japan; analysis of kokumin and minzoku, two concepts at the core of the alternative ways in which Japanese articulate nationalism; and a summary of how the key elements are shaping the present and future of nationalism in Japan. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kevin M. Doak, Ph.D. (1989) in East Asian Languages and Cultures, The University of Chicago, is the Nippon Foundation Endowed Chair in Japanese Studies at Georgetown University. He has published extensively on Japanese nationalism, social and political thought, including Dreams of Difference: The Japan Romantic School and the Crisis of Modernity (California, 1994).