Japan's Past, Japan's Future

Book excerpt: Spanning Japan's watershed twentieth century, this compelling autobiography traces Ienaga Saburo's childhood, education, wartime experience, academic career, and court battles. He is perhaps best known as the courageous plaintiff in three lawsuits (1965D1997) against the government seeking to end OcertificationO of textbooks, which even today constrains discussion of Japan's involvement in China and in the Pacific War. Minear contextualizes Ienaga's career and brings the story to the present with a masterly introduction of the man and his times and excerpts from Ienaga's court testimony and recent interviews.