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Secrets, Sex, and Spectacleby Mark D. West
University of Chicago Press 2008; US$ 38.00A leader of a global superpower is betrayed by his mistress, who makes public the sordid details of their secret affair. His wife stands by as he denies the charges. Debates over definitions of moral leadership ensue. Sound familiar? If you guessed Clinton and Lewinsky, try again. This incident involved former Japanese prime minister Sosuke Uno and a geisha. In Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle, Mark D. West organizes the seemingly random worlds of Japanese and American scandal—from corporate fraud to baseball cheaters, political corruption to celebrity sexcapades—to explore well-ingrained similarities and contrasts in law and society. In Japan and the United States, legal and organizational rules tell us what kind... more...
A History of Japanby Richard Mason; John Caiger
Tuttle Publishing 2011; US$ 18.95A fascinating look at Japan from its early pre-history through the post-cold War period to the collapse of the Bubble Economy in the early 1990's. Recent findings shed additional light on the origins of Japanese civilization and the birth of Japanese culture. Also included here is an in-depth analysis of the religion, arts and culture of the Japanese people form the 6th century B.C.E. to the present. This contemporary classic, now updated and revised, continues to be an essential text in Japanese studies. more...
Lebanonby Charles Winslow
Routledge 1996; US$ 200.00Winslow provides a comprehensive history and political analysis of Lebanon from ancient times to the present day. He focuses on the civil and sectarian strife that has characterized the country's past and contemporary history. more...
Conscience of Lebanonby Mordechai Nisan
Frank Cass 2003; US$ 57.95Set within the context of the national political narrative of Lebanon, this volume offers a portrait of Sakr and the times in which he lived before his exile to Israel in May 2000. more...
A History of Japanby Kenneth Henshall
Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. 1999; US$ 28.00In a rare combination of comprehensive coverage and sustained critical focus, this book examines Japanese history in its entirety to identify the factors underlying the nation's progression to superpower. Japan's achievement is explained not merely in economic terms, but at a more fundamental level, as a product of historical patterns of response to circumstance. Japan is shown to be a nation historically impelled by a pragmatic determination to succeed. The book also highlights unresolved questions and little-known facts. more...
Above the Cloudsby Takie Sugiyama Lebra
University of California Press 1992; US$ 12.95This latest work from Japanese-born anthropologist Takie Sugiyama Lebra is the first ethnographic study of the modern Japanese aristocracy. Established as a class at the beginning of the Meiji period, the kazoku ranked directly below the emperor and his family. Officially dissolved in 1947, this group of social elites is still generally perceived as nobility. Lebra gained entry into this tightly knit circle and conducted more than one hundred interviews with its members. She has woven together a reconstructive ethnography from their life histories to create an intimate portrait of a remote and archaic world. As Lebra explores the culture of the kazoku , she places each subject in its historical context. She analyzes the evolution of status... more...
The Culture of Sectarianismby Ussama Samir Makdisi
University of California Press 2000; US$ 12.95Focusing on Ottoman Lebanon, Ussama Makdisi shows how sectarianism was a manifestation of modernity that transcended the physical boundaries of a particular country. His study challenges those who have viewed sectarian violence as an Islamic response to westernization or simply as a product of social and economic inequities among religious groups. more...
Crazy Occupationby Jamie Tarabay
Allen & Unwin 2005; US$ 19.60A unique and highly personal memoir of life in the Middle East from a bright, young Australian journalist whose bravery and curiosity (or perhaps naivety?) saw her reporting from the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict. more...
Syrian Intervention in Lebanonby Naomi Joy Weinberger
Oxford University Press 1986; US$ 145.00Conflict and intervention in the Middle East are not uncommon occurrences. Yet when civil strife erupted in Lebanon in 1975, the events that followed were unusual indeed. Unlike most patterns of intervention, Syria displayed remarkable tactical flexibility by first intervening on behalf of the rebels, its traditional allies, then shifting its allegiance mid-war to the Lebanese incumbents. Also, whereas most intervention scenarios end with a process of decommitment, Syria eventually occupied parts of Lebanon to become an enduring military entity there. Delving into primary Syrian and Lebanese sources, Weinberger unravels the history, competing factions, religion, politics, and culture of the region and presents an intriguing and complex portrait... more...
A Short History of Japanby Curtis Andressen
Allen & Unwin 2002; US$ 21.78New in the Short History of Asia series, edited by Milton Osborne, this is a comprehensive, readable history of the land of the Rising Sun, from its ancient origins to its fascinating present. more...