San Antonio College Library

April 12, 1945: America is stunned by the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Vice President Harry Truman, who has been kept out of war planning, must assume command of a nation at war on multiple continents. Wallace tells the gripping true story of the turbulent days, weeks, and months leading up to August 6, 1945, when Truman gives the order to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. He takes readers inside the minds of the iconic and elusive figures...

Tokugawa Ieyasu is Japan's most famous warrior leader, the greatest Samurai general of them all. A rebel, usurper and a unifier, his achievements would match those of Julius Caesar or Napoleon Bonaparte. He was as cunning as he was brave, founding a dynasty that would rule Japan for 250 years. His ruthless philosophy of loyalty and sacrifice would shape his country until our modern age.

Established on the slopes of Mount T'oham in the 8th century, the Sokkuram cave contains a monumental statue of Buddha looking at the sea in the bhumisparsha mudra position. With the surrounding portrayals of gods, bodhisattvas and disciples, realistically and delicately sculpted in haut-relief and bas-relief, it makes up a masterpiece of Buddhist art in the Far East. The Temple of Pulguksa, built in 752, and the cave form a body of religious architecture...

Built in 794 A.D. on the model of the capitals of ancient China, Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan, from its foundation until the middle of the 19th century. As the center of Japanese culture for more than 1,000 years, Kyoto illustrates the development of Japanese wooden architecture, particularly religious architecture, and the art of Japanese gardens, which has influenced landscape gardening the world over.

The island of Itsukushima, in the Seto inland sea, has been a holy place of Shintoism since the earliest times. The first shrine buildings here were probably erected in the 6th century. The present shrine dates from the 13th century, and the harmoniously arranged buildings reveal great artistic and technical skill. The shrine plays on the contrasts in color and form between mountains and sea and illustrates the Japanese concept of scenic beauty, which...

"The 'Global' and the 'Local' in Early Modern and Modern East Asia presents a unique set of historical perspectives by scholars from three important universities in the East Asian region--The University of Tokyo (Tōdai), Fudan University, and Princeton University. Two of the essays address the international leanings in the histories of their respective departments in Todai and Fudan. The rest of the essays showcase how such thinking about the global...

"This work tells the harrowing story of the "comfort women" who were forced to enter prostitution to serve the Japanese Imperial army, often living in appalling conditions of sexual slavery. Using a wide range of primary sources, the author for the first time links military controlled prostitution with enforced prostitution. He uncovers new and controversial information about the role of the U.S. occupation forces in military controlled prostitution,...

Japan in the modern age: a people existing between the protection of the kami and the geological dangers of earthquake. This program covers the cataclysmic events of the 20th century-the devastating earthquake of 1923, the rise of militarism, the accession of Emperor Hirohito, the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere, the Pacific War, Hiroshima, and the American occupation of Japan-but its primary focus is on what makes Japan Japanese: the Shinto...

The arrival of Commodore Perry in 1854 marked the stage for Japan's dramatic leap from the Middle Ages into modernity. The ports of Japan were forced open; the English, French, Russians, and Dutch promptly demanded-and got-the same privileges. In 1868, the last shogun gave way to a 15-year-old emperor, who dressed in Western-style clothes. Edo became Tokyo, education became a national passion, and the dichotomy between ancient shared values and new...

Examining the increased presence of Japanese media and popular culture in the rest of Asia, this book looks at how this is received and how it has transformed Japanese self-understanding.