excellent buy
Stephen Turnbull?s book The Samurai: A Military History focuses on the strongest and most well known Japanese samurai. In addition to the history of the samurai and Japanese military, Turnbull?s book includes early Japanese mythology, epic battles, and the inner workings of Japanese feudal society. The Book gives an overall view of Japanese culture, mythology, and history as it intertwines with that of the samurai. The book also shows how religions, culture, and politics all shaped the samurai. Turnbull also includes detailed pictures and illustrations ranging from maps to samurai armor and Japanese paintings which tie into the book seamlessly. The accounts follow the samurai from their rise to their demise.
From the beginning of the book, Turnbull does not assume the reader has an extensive prior knowledge of the samurai or Japan. The book gives a bird?s eye view of battles, and shows the personalities of the samurai through excerpts from chronicles of samurai families. The only problem the reader should have is with the Japanese language, such as the names and places, but other than that he is straight forward in his writing. His use of vocabulary is a nice change from many of the other history books available; he usually keeps the reading at a high school level and gives the information in an understandable manner.
