I am very far from being an expert in Japanese history, so I can't truly evaluate the accuracy or the lines of argument in the text. That said, for a book which isn't overly large, it seems to try its best to cover the broad sweep of Japanese history in as much depth and with as much complexity as it can. It's very nicely and appropriately illustrated, and the maps are especially nice--too often, maps accompanying historical works are of such low quality that they hinder rather than help comprehension. ( )