This well-written book will not only interest specialists of Japan but will be fascinating reading for anyone interested in history. Highly recommended.
CHOICE
James Huffman's well-written biography of the American journalist Edward House is a welcome addition. . . . A detailed, factual narrative that flows smoothly, allowing the reader to follow House's life as it is set ... Read moreagainst a complicated historical background.
Persimmon
James Huffman's earnest and compelling, also meticulously researched, story reveals a huge amount about Western attitudes toward Japan in the Meiji era, also about Japanese methods of making itself more of a presence in the international arena. Beautifully researched and a lively read, this is a major contribution to the historiography of Japan–U.S. relations.
The Daily Yomiuri
A Yankee in Meiji Japan is at once an engrossing biography of a nineteenth-century American journalist and an absorbing history of Japan in the initial stages of its modern transformation. As a pioneer interpreter of Japan for the English-speaking world, E. H. House struggled against stereotypes of exoticism to represent the country he loved as progressive and civilized. Huffman offers a fascinating and innovative account of the interaction between personality, press, and politics. This is history at its best: superbly crafted, painstakingly documented, and brilliantly written.
M. William Steele, International Christian University Huffman's highly readable account of E. H. House's life will appeal to a wide audience, but especially to non-specialists, and by focusing on a sympathetic observer of Japan, Huffman has found an effective vehicle for exploring a number of interesting themes in the history of the Meiji period.
Pacific Affairs
Huffman has provided a well-researched life of the Yankee of his title, Edward H. House.
Journal of Asian History
A century later Professor Huffman has dispelled the obscurity which enshrouded the life and work of a man who was a Yankee, an American, a pioneer in the development pf American-Japanese friendship, and an unsung hero who fought valiantly against a crippling disability. We are in his debt.
John M. Maki, University of Massachusetts at Amherst Show Less