Mitani Hiroshi redefines the policy shift in the 1850s to open Japan to the West as an archetypal process of resolving political deadlock and indecision that offers comparative lessons for scholars of contemporary history. The new title, and framing, of this English translation and somewhat revised version of the original Japanese-language monograph, Perii raiko (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 2003), provide an interesting revision of conventional studies of the Bakumatsu (1853-67) period. Instead of casting the late Tokugawa diplomatic quagmire as idiosyncratic and the result of a unique, secluded culture, Mitani constructs the process of opening Japan as a universal historical experience of "blundering into a dead-end and groping for the way back out" (p. xix) that can be seen not only in Japan's World War II experience but also in the United States' involvement in the Iraq War and international approaches to global warming. from http://www.jstor.org (May 22, 2015).