The Last Tosa

Download The Last Tosa PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 9780824818265
Total Pages : 442 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (182 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Last Tosa by : Sandy Kita

Download or read book The Last Tosa written by Sandy Kita and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Iwasa Katsumochi Matabei (1578-1650) is one of the most controversial figures in Japanese art history. For more than half a century, historians have argued over Matabei's role in Japanese art: Was he, as he asserted, "The Last Tosa" (the school of painters who specialized in Yamato-e, a kind of classical courtly painting) or, as others characterized him, "The Founder of Ukiyo-e," the style of painting associated with the urban commoner class. In this highly original and convincing study, Matabei emerges as both - an artist in whose work can be seen elements of both Yamato-e and Ukiyo-e. Extending its analysis beyond the individual artist, The Last Tosa examines the trends and artistic developments of a transitional period and makes heretofore unexamined connections between the world of the aristocrat and the merchant as well as the two artistic schools that reflected their tastes.

The Last Samurai

Download The Last Samurai PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Wiley + ORM
ISBN 13 : 1118045564
Total Pages : 222 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (18 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Last Samurai by : Mark Ravina

Download or read book The Last Samurai written by Mark Ravina and published by Wiley + ORM. This book was released on 2011-03-29 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic arc of Saigo Takamori's life, from his humble origins as a lowly samurai, to national leadership, to his death as a rebel leader, has captivated generations of Japanese readers and now Americans as well - his life is the inspiration for a major Hollywood film, The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe. In this vibrant new biography, Mark Ravina, professor of history and Director of East Asian Studies at Emory University, explores the facts behind Hollywood storytelling and Japanese legends, and explains the passion and poignancy of Saigo's life. Known both for his scholarly research and his appearances on The History Channel, Ravina recreates the world in which Saigo lived and died, the last days of the samurai. The Last Samurai traces Saigo's life from his early days as a tax clerk in far southwestern Japan, through his rise to national prominence as a fierce imperial loyalist. Saigo was twice exiled for his political activities -- sent to Japan's remote southwestern islands where he fully expected to die. But exile only increased his reputation for loyalty, and in 1864 he was brought back to the capital to help his lord fight for the restoration of the emperor. In 1868, Saigo commanded his lord's forces in the battles which toppled the shogunate and he became and leader in the emperor Meiji's new government. But Saigo found only anguish in national leadership. He understood the need for a modern conscript army but longed for the days of the traditional warrior. Saigo hoped to die in service to the emperor. In 1873, he sought appointment as envoy to Korea, where he planned to demand that the Korean king show deference to the Japanese emperor, drawing his sword, if necessary, top defend imperial honor. Denied this chance to show his courage and loyalty, he retreated to his homeland and spent his last years as a schoolteacher, training samurai boys in frugality, honesty, and courage. In 1876, when the government stripped samurai of their swords, Saigo's followers rose in rebellion and Saigo became their reluctant leader. His insurrection became the bloodiest war Japan had seen in centuries, killing over 12,000 men on both sides and nearly bankrupting the new imperial government. The imperial government denounced Saigo as a rebel and a traitor, but their propaganda could not overcome his fame and in 1889, twelve years after his death, the government relented, pardoned Saigo of all crimes, and posthumously restored him to imperial court rank. In THE LAST SAMURAI, Saigo is as compelling a character as Robert E. Lee was to Americans-a great and noble warrior who followed the dictates of honor and loyalty, even though it meant civil war in a country to which he'd devoted his life. Saigo's life is a fascinating look into Japanese feudal society and a history of a country as it struggled between its long traditions and the dictates of a modern future.

Epochs of Chinese & Japanese Art

Download Epochs of Chinese & Japanese Art PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 512 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Epochs of Chinese & Japanese Art by : Ernest Francisco Fenollosa

Download or read book Epochs of Chinese & Japanese Art written by Ernest Francisco Fenollosa and published by . This book was released on 1921 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art

Download Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Stone Bridge Press, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 9780893469627
Total Pages : 676 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (696 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art by : Ernest Fenollosa

Download or read book Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art written by Ernest Fenollosa and published by Stone Bridge Press, Inc.. This book was released on 2009-02-01 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two volumes of the essential and definitive survey of Chinese and Japanese art in one book.

Cultural Imprints

Download Cultural Imprints PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501761641
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Cultural Imprints by : Elizabeth Oyler

Download or read book Cultural Imprints written by Elizabeth Oyler and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2022-02-15 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cultural Imprints draws on literary works, artifacts, performing arts, and documents that were created by or about the samurai to examine individual "imprints," traces holding specifically grounded historical meanings that persist through time. The contributors to this interdisciplinary volume assess those imprints for what they can suggest about how thinkers, writers, artists, performers, and samurai themselves viewed warfare and its lingering impact at various points during the "samurai age," the long period from the establishment of the first shogunate in the twelfth century through the fall of the Tokugawa in 1868. The range of methodologies and materials discussed in Cultural Imprints challenges a uniform notion of warrior activity and sensibilities, breaking down an ahistorical, monolithic image of the samurai that developed late in the samurai age and that persists today. Highlighting the memory of warfare and its centrality in the cultural realm, Cultural Imprints demonstrates the warrior's far-reaching, enduring, and varied cultural influence across centuries of Japanese history. Contributors: Monica Bethe, William Fleming, Andrew Goble, Thomas Hare, Luke Roberts, Marimi Tateno, Alison Tokita, Elizabeth Oyler, Katherine Saltzman-Li

Shinsengumi

Download Shinsengumi PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Tuttle Publishing
ISBN 13 : 146291358X
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (629 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Shinsengumi by : Romulus Hillsborough

Download or read book Shinsengumi written by Romulus Hillsborough and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2013-06-25 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shinsengumi: The Shogun's last Samurai Corps is the true story of the notorious samurai corps formed in 1863 to arrest or kill the enemies of the Tokugawa Shogun. The only book in English about the Shinsengumi, it focuses on the corps' two charismatic leaders, Kondo Isami and Hijikata Toshizo, both impeccable swordsmen. It is a history–in–brief of the final years of the Bakufu, which collapsed in 1867 with the restoration of Imperial rule. In writing Shinsengumi, Hillsborough referred mostly to Japanese–language primary sources, including letters, memoirs, journals, interviews, and eyewitness accounts, as well as definitive biographies and histories of the era. The fall of the shogun's government (Tokugawa Bakufu, or simply Bakufu) in 1868, which had ruled Japan for over two and a half centuries, was the greatest event in modern Japanese history. The revolution, known as the Meiji Restoration, began with the violent reaction of samurai to the Bakufu's decision in 1854 to open the theretofore isolated country to "Western barbarians." Though opening the country was unavoidable, it was seen as a sign of weakness by the samurai who clamored to "expel the barbarians." Those samurai plotted to overthrow the shogun and restore the holy emperor to his ancient seat of power. Screaming "heaven's revenge," they wielded their swords with a vengeance upon those loyal to the shogun. They unleashed a wave of terror at the center of the revolution—the emperor's capital of Kyoto. Murder and assassination were rampant. By the end of 1862, hordes of renegade samurai, called ronin, had transformed the streets of the Imperial Capital into a "sea of blood." The shogun's administrators were desperate to stop the terror. A band of expert swordsmen was formed. It was given the name Shinsengumi ("Newly Selected Corps")—and commissioned to eliminate the ronin and other enemies of the Bakufu. With unrestrained brutality bolstered by an official sanction to kill, the Shinsengumi soon became the shogun's most dreaded security force. In this vivid historical narrative of the Shinsengumi, the only one in the English language, author Romulus Hillsborough paints a provocative and thrilling picture of this most fascinating period in Japanese history.

Art and Palace Politics in Early Modern Japan, 1580s-1680s

Download Art and Palace Politics in Early Modern Japan, 1580s-1680s PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004211268
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (42 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Art and Palace Politics in Early Modern Japan, 1580s-1680s by : Elizabeth Lillehoj

Download or read book Art and Palace Politics in Early Modern Japan, 1580s-1680s written by Elizabeth Lillehoj and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-08-29 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Magnificent art and architecture created for the emperor with the financial support of powerful warlords at the beginning of Japan’s early modern era (1580s-1680s) testify to the continued cultural and ideological significance of the imperial family. Works created in this context are discussed in this groundbreaking study, with over 100 illustrations in color.

The Pursuit of Power in Modern Japan 1825-1995

Download The Pursuit of Power in Modern Japan 1825-1995 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191542458
Total Pages : 562 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (915 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Pursuit of Power in Modern Japan 1825-1995 by : Chushichi Tsuzuki

Download or read book The Pursuit of Power in Modern Japan 1825-1995 written by Chushichi Tsuzuki and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2000-04-13 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new history of modern Japan covers its remarkable transformation from a small country on the fringe of international politics to the major world power it is today. Professor Tsuzuki traces Japan's pursuit of power, first by military and then by economic means, from her attempts to replace China at the centre of the Confucian Middle Kingdom; through the Meiji nationalist response to the inroads of nineteenth century western imperialism; and on to the post-war USJapanese alliance powering the economic miracle of the last half of the twentieth century. He examines Japan's political, intellectual, and industrial development throughout the last two centuries, with special attention to the wars that were fought, and argues that the history of Japan's modernization was closely linked to the growth of Japan's own imperialism. Tsuzuki goes on to reveal how some of the factors which contributed to remaking Japan as an economic giant have also been responsible for her recent economic and political difficulties.

The Monthly Review

Download The Monthly Review PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 644 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (927 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Monthly Review by : Sir Henry John Newbolt

Download or read book The Monthly Review written by Sir Henry John Newbolt and published by . This book was released on 1902 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Gained Ground

Download Gained Ground PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : European Studies in North Amer
ISBN 13 : 1571134247
Total Pages : 254 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (711 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Gained Ground by : Eva Gruber

Download or read book Gained Ground written by Eva Gruber and published by European Studies in North Amer. This book was released on 2018 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compares the cultural productions of Canada and the US - literature, but also film, opera, and even theme parks - providing a reassessment of Canadian Studies within a comparative framework.

The Deshima Diaries

Download The Deshima Diaries PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004616489
Total Pages : 620 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (46 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Deshima Diaries by :

Download or read book The Deshima Diaries written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-08-07 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: English translation of the marginalia, or marginal notes, that were added to the text of the Deshima Diaries from the 1670's onwards in order to provide the Dutch chief of Deshima with a quick reference to the notes of his predecessors. This volume covers the marginalia from the 1700-1740 diaries. Providing the general public, and especially those who have neither a command of Dutch nor of Japanese, access to a fascinating period of Japanese history in which the Dutch played such a singular role. At the same time, the serious scholar wil obtain an easy key to the extremely rich holdings of the archive of the Deshima trading factory, which covers a shelf length of more than forty meters in the National Archives in the Netherlands, but which has been only rarely utilized by historians, Japanologists or other scholars. The Deshima archives of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) were used originally as a corpus of knowledge and experience amassed over the years by generations of Company personnel. It was a source which was consulted by opperhoofden whenever they were in doubt about the right answer to exasperating questions or challenges posed by Japanese society in the form of shogunal decrees, orders by the governors of Nagasaki, and the stubborn demeanor by blackmailing and manipulative officials. Life at Deshima was so regulated and controlled both by workings of the Japanese bureaucracy and by the rhythms of the East India Company's seasonal trade with Japan, that keeping a dagregister or diary in which all the remarkable occurances were noted, assumed crucial importance. This in contrast to other VOC factories where the keeping of a diary, though obligatory, was often neglected. In the isolation of Deshima almost everything seen or heard was 'notable'. Skipping through the text one is also inevitably touched by the suffering inflicted on Japanese society by perennial scourges such as earthquakes, epidemics, 'that one general disease called poverty' and the fires which periodically destroyed large portions of the great cities. The present volume is a thoroughly revised edition, especially with regard to the Japanese personal and topographical names occurring in the text, of volumes III-IV of the Leiden edition. Scientific Publications of the Japan-Netherlands Institute No. 12. Published by the Japan-Netherlands Institute, Tokyo 1992 (original ISBN 4930921015).

Tour of Duty

Download Tour of Duty PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 0824834704
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (248 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Tour of Duty by : Constantine Nomikos Vaporis

Download or read book Tour of Duty written by Constantine Nomikos Vaporis and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2009-11-12 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Choice Outstanding Academic Title Alternate attendance (sankin kotai) was one of the central institutions of Edo-period (1603-1868) Japan and one of the most unusual examples of a system of enforced elite mobility in world history. It required the daimyo to divide their time between their domains and the city of Edo, where they waited upon the Tokugawa shogun. Based on a prodigious amount of research in both published and archival primary sources, Tour of Duty renders alternate attendance as a lived experience, for not only the daimyo but also the samurai retainers who accompanied them. Beyond exploring the nature of travel to and from the capital as well as the period of enforced bachelorhood there, Constantine Vaporis elucidates-for the first time-the significance of alternate attendance as an engine of cultural, intellectual, material, and technological exchange. Vaporis argues against the view that cultural change simply emanated from the center (Edo) and reveals more complex patterns of cultural circulation and production taking place between the domains and Edo and among distant parts of Japan. What is generally known as "Edo culture" in fact incorporated elements from the localities. In some cases, Edo acted as a nexus for exchange; at other times, culture traveled from one area to another without passing through the capital. As a result, even those who did not directly participate in alternate attendance experienced a world much larger than their own. Vaporis begins by detailing the nature of the trip to and from the capital for one particular large-scale domain, Tosa, and its men and goes on to analyze the political and cultural meanings of the processions of the daimyo and their extensive entourages up and down the highways. These parade-like movements were replete with symbolic import for the nature of early modern governance. Later chapters are concerned with the physical and social environment experienced by the daimyo's retainers in Edo; they also address the question of who went to Edo and why, the network of physical spaces in which the domainal samurai lived, the issue of staffing, political power, and the daily lives and consumption habits of retainers. Finally, Vaporis examines retainers as carriers of culture, both in a literal and a figurative sense. In doing so, he reveals the significance of travel for retainers and their identity as consumers and producers of culture, thus proposing a multivalent model of cultural change.

The Meiji Restoration

Download The Meiji Restoration PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Stanford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780804779906
Total Pages : 534 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (799 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Meiji Restoration by : W. Beasley

Download or read book The Meiji Restoration written by W. Beasley and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1972-06-01 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First, there are questions concerning the role and relative importance of internal and external factors in the pattern of events. Did the activities of the Western powers prompt changes in Japan that would not otherwise have taken place? Or did they merely hasten a process that had already begun? Similarly, did Western civilization give a new direction to Japanese development, or do no more than provide the outward forms through which indigenous change could manifest itself? Was it a matrix, or only a shopping list? Second, how far was the evolution of modern Japan in some sense "inevitable"? Were the main features of Meiji society already implicit in the Tempo reforms, only awaiting an appropriate trigger to bring them into being? More narrowly, was the character of Meiji institutions determined by the social composition of the anti-Tokugawa movement, or did it derive from a situation that took shape only after the Bakufu was overthrown? This is to pose the problem of the relationship between day-to-day politics and long-term socioeconomic change. One can argue, paraphrasing Toyama, that the political controversy about foreign affairs provided the means by which basic socioeconomic factors became effective; or one can say, with Sakata, that the relevance of socioeconomic change is that it helped to decide the manner in which the fundamentally political ramifications of the foreign question were worked out. The difference of emphasis is significant. Finally, have recent historians, in their preoccupation with other issues, lost sight of something important in their relative neglect of ideas qua ideas? Ought we perhaps to stop treating loyalty to the Emperor as simply a manifestation of something else? After all, the men whose actions are the object of our study took that loyalty seriously enough, certainly as an instrument of politics, if not as an article of faith.

Capitalscapes

Download Capitalscapes PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 9780824829001
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (29 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Capitalscapes by : Matthew Philip McKelway

Download or read book Capitalscapes written by Matthew Philip McKelway and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2006-02-28 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the destruction of Kyoto during the civil wars of the late fifteenth century, large-scale panoramic paintings of the city began to emerge. These enormous and intricately detailed depictions of the ancient imperial capital were unprecedented in the history of Japanese painting and remain unmatched as representations of urban life in any artistic tradition. Capitalscapes, the first book-length study of the Kyoto screens, examines their inception in the sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries, focusing on the political motivations that sparked their creation. Close readings of the Kyoto screens reveal that they were initially commissioned by or for members of the Ashikaga shogunate and that urban panoramas reflecting the interests of both prevailing and moribund political elites were created to underscore the legitimacy of the newly ascendant Tokugawa regime. Matthew McKelway’s analysis of the screens exposes their creators’ masterful exploitation of ostensibly accurate depictions to convey politically biased images of Japan’s capital. His overarching methodology combines a historical approach, which considers the paintings in light of contemporary reports (diaries, chronicles, ritual accounts), with a thematic one, isolating individual motifs, deciphering their visual language, and comparing them with depictions in other works. McKelway’s combined approach allows him to argue that the Kyoto screens were conceived and perpetuated as a painting genre that conveyed specific political meanings to viewers even as it provided textured details of city life. Students and scholars of Japanese art will find this lavishly illustrated work especially valuable for its insights into the cityscape painting genre, while those interested in urban and political history will appreciate its bold exploration of Kyoto’s past and the city’s late-medieval martial elite.

Mining in Japan, Past and Present

Download Mining in Japan, Past and Present PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 358 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (7 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Mining in Japan, Past and Present by : Japan. Nōshōmushō. Kōzankyoku

Download or read book Mining in Japan, Past and Present written by Japan. Nōshōmushō. Kōzankyoku and published by . This book was released on 1909 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Sword in Japanese Martial Traditions, Vol. 1

Download The Sword in Japanese Martial Traditions, Vol. 1 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Via Media Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1893765482
Total Pages : 141 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (937 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Sword in Japanese Martial Traditions, Vol. 1 by : Michael DeMarco

Download or read book The Sword in Japanese Martial Traditions, Vol. 1 written by Michael DeMarco and published by Via Media Publishing. This book was released on 2017-12-02 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If the Way of the warrior is the soul of Japan, their magnificent swords were the tools utilized to form the nation and forge their spirit. You’ll find an abundance of information in this special anthology in support of this thesis. Kimberley Taylor wrote four chapters, the first being an interview with 7th-dan Matsuo Haruna. Haruna offers great advice for practitioners based on his first-hand experience. Taylor’s two highly researched chapters give overviews of two major iaido schools. Excellent photos and descriptions of katas accompany the text. Taylor’s finale is a short piece describing two of his favorite techniques, while Deborah Klens-Bigman’s chapter deals with two of her favorite techniques. Another top ranking swordsman, Nicklaus Suino, gets to the finicky details of sword-drawing techniques as performed by masters. From his two chapters, we learn how to watch for telltale signs of expertise and come to a greater appreciation of the art of drawing the sword. Jonathan Seckler’s chapter translates and comments on an essay written by Chozanshi Shissai in 1729. He argues that Neo-Confucianism rather than Zen became the foundation of swordsmanship, and illustrates how the sword arts began to be appreciated for their use for self-development. Andrew Bryant’s chapter focuses on poems passed down within the Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu School of Iaido. These poems correspond to techniques contained within the system created in the 17th century. The author presents each poem and offers provides textual descriptions of their corresponding applications with each sword technique illustrated. Joseph Svinth’s research presents the earliest kendo clubs to form in Canada. The socio-cultural settings add much flavor to this chapter. Information is provided regarding notable instructors, training, and competitions. Another way to better understand a martial tradition of one country is to compare it with another. Matthew Galas compares and contrasts sword arts in Germany with the Japanese traditions. The focus is on general principles and combat philosophy. Devotees to sword practice are well award that scabbards get damaged. Michael Babin’s chapter shows “how to” build a serviceable scabbard according talents of anyone moderately handy with tools. The twelve chapters described above should inspire further research and practice in the Japanese sword arts, plus bring a greater appreciation for their unique place in world history and culture.

Handbook for Travellers in Northern Italy

Download Handbook for Travellers in Northern Italy PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 744 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (38 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Handbook for Travellers in Northern Italy by : John Murray (Firm)

Download or read book Handbook for Travellers in Northern Italy written by John Murray (Firm) and published by . This book was released on 1897 with total page 744 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: