Samurai Warriors

New York: St. Martin's Press. Hardback. scratch on back of dustjacket Samurai Warriors. In a highly readable text, the author describes the lives and attitudes of the samurai, drawing on many examples to explain the background to the conflicts and their conduct in them, putting into context the brutality involved. He goes into great detail concerning their etiquette, their armour and weapons, and their tactics; he describes Japan's ruling imperial system, with fascinating examples of the activities of many emperors and empresses, and the role of the shoguns (the 'barbarian-subduing generals'); explains the act of ritual suicide (seppuku); and gives an account of the coming of the foreigners and, finally, the abolition of the samurai in the 1870s. This book is liberally illustrated with paintings of historical events, many by artists contemporary with the samurai, and also with specially taken photographs of armour and weapons, and other artifacts. It is a superb work of reference on a fascinating, bygone class of magnificent fighting men, and, it could be said, of a whole national ethos. Illustrated. 128 pp.sunned spine to D/J (We carry a wide selection of titles in The Arts, Theology, History, Politics, Social and Physical Sciences. academic and scholarly books and Modern First Editions, Reference books ,and all types of Academic Literature.) . Near Fine. Cloth. 1st US Edition. 2000.