Download or read book Japan Before Perry written by Conrad Totman and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008-01-14 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By 1853 Japan had been transformed from a sparsely populated land of nonliterate tribal peoples into an elaborately structured commercial society sustaining massive cities and a varied array of sophisticated cultural production. In this authoritative survey, Conrad Totman examines the origins of Japanese civilization and explores in detail the classical, medieval, and early-modern epochs, weaving interpretations of the major themes in Japan's cultural and political development into a rich historical narrative.