Hired Swords: The Rise of Private Warrior Power in Early Japan

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and well researched book
Review: An excellent reading on the subject of Japan's military history in the ancient period.

Rating:
Summary: Be Careful.
Review: I had to read this book and write a review on it for my Japanese History course at school. However, after starting the book I soon realized that I was in over my head. The detail of this book is amazing and his sources and citations are top notch. The author also includes a glossary that comes in handy. However, if you are not an Asian scholar or have some type of deep seated interest in the subject, you might want to reconsider. This book is extremely advanced and left me having to read several pages over and over until I caught everything. My biggest gripe with the book is the author's way of introducing the Japanese language into the book. While writing the author would have what the Japanese word is for a selected word, i.e. warrior. However after having seen the Japanese word the author would then replace the english word for the Japanese one. I would not get far before I had no clue what the words meant, and I lost track of the argument the author was making because I was looking at the glossary repeatedly or looking through previous pages. No doubt the book is well researched and the author knowledgeable, but novices beware.