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JAPAN: A Documentary History: Volumes I and II. By David J. Lu. Armonk (New York) and London: M. E. Sharpe. 1997. xv, 668 pp. (B&W photos.) US$39.95, Vol. I e II, cloth, ISBN 1-56324-906-5; US$24.95, Vol. I, paper, ISBN 1-56324-907-3; US$24.95, Vol. II, paper ISBN 0-7656-0036-6.
THE COLLECTION of documents in this book is, in the editor's words, "a narrative of Japanese history as rendered by the Japanese people themselves at the time they lived," with an emphasis on social, economic and political institutions (p. xi). There is no doubt that history gains a livelier tone of conversation when it is exchanged with those who lived during the time. Secondary narratives often turn out to add one more layer to an existing construction and lead readers to a dialogue constructed for their own sake. In that sense, David J. Lu provides a convenient bypass for our endeavour to develop a more direct conversation with the past of Japan.
Starting with the...