Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2018 -

Huffman's book has all of the makings of a classic, and it will be among the standard resources on modern Japanese history but also the history of the poor in general. In many ways the author's thick description of the Meiji poor could easily apply to the poor in any country at any modern time period. Huffman (emer., Wittenberg Univ.) argues that one should take the poor seriously as agents of historical change in modern Japan, but one should not pity them. They faced pain in factories, in communities, and at home, but they also resisted. The author describes how they stretched their budgets, struck back against those who would take advantage of them, and still found the time to find joy in their lives, no matter how momentary it might have been. This book deserves a wide readership.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.