The very quick summary: Japan used to be closed off from the rest of the world, until 1853 when the US forced them to open up. This triggered major reforms. The Shogun was overthrown and replaced with the emperor, and in less than a century, Japan went from an essentially medieval economic and societal structure, to a modern industrial economy.
This is a good summary. I guess I have heard about this before, because I read a bit about the Qing dynasty and the Sino-Japanese wars.
(Note that I haven’t read these books and your comment updates me toward reading them.)
Acemoglu and Fukuyama are brilliant, but speaking in the abstract, I am skeptical of drawing too much from Big Idea sort of books. They tend to focus on and line up facts in their narrative. This doesn’t tend to lead to robust models and insights if we want to do something else with the underlying history.
Instead, it seems ideal to consume several books from several established scholars specialized on Japan and the Meiji restoration.
I will try to search Amazon/Goodreads and maybe report back.
This is a good summary. I guess I have heard about this before, because I read a bit about the Qing dynasty and the Sino-Japanese wars.
(Note that I haven’t read these books and your comment updates me toward reading them.)
Acemoglu and Fukuyama are brilliant, but speaking in the abstract, I am skeptical of drawing too much from Big Idea sort of books. They tend to focus on and line up facts in their narrative. This doesn’t tend to lead to robust models and insights if we want to do something else with the underlying history.
Instead, it seems ideal to consume several books from several established scholars specialized on Japan and the Meiji restoration.
I will try to search Amazon/Goodreads and maybe report back.