A Brief History of the Samurai

Brief Histories

By: Jonathan Clements

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

From a leading expert in Japanese history, this is one of the first full histories of the art and culture of the Samurai warrior. The Samurai emerged as a warrior caste in Medieval Japan and would have a powerful influence on the history and culture of the country from the next 500 years. Clements also looks at the Samurai wars that tore Japan apart in the 17th and 18th centuries and how the caste was finally demolished in the advent of the mechanized world.

©2010 Jonathan Clements (P)2014 Audible Ltd

Meh

Managed to make a fascinating time period sound quite boring. No small feat. Good narrator.

very entertaining

not what I expected but I thoroughly enjoyed the tales and history of a most interesting and influential class of people

Exactly what I had hoped for!

This is a realistic look at the glorified warriors of history. It was worth every penny!

Really connects all the dots

I would recommend this book because it does just what the title says. As someone who has known bits and pieces of Japanese and Samurai history, this account really pulled it all together in an interesting and insightful way.

Not what it seems

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes but with caveat that it's not about samurai warfare or fighting skills etc. but more just history

Connected Temporally, if not fully Thematically

The narrator is competent, but the recording makes it so that, at times, the sibilants get really hissy. It's distracting, but it wasn't hard to get distracted. It was neither as compelling nor as interesting as I'd hoped. It's very broad in its scope, and it tells at least some version of the story with at least some analysis. It admirably connects the history right up to present day, though there were many times in the final chapter I was surprised the book wasn't done. Lastly, the final message in the final minutes didn't feel well connected to the rest of the book.

Thumbs Up.

Excellent summary of the Samurai period. There is a lot of history here. You’ll enjoy the book.

Please learn to pronounce ...

While I can overlook minor mispronunciations of common words or even people's names, it's hard to ignore when the title of the book itself is mispronounced. If you're a professional narrator tasked with reading "The Samurai," it's crucial to pronounce "Samurai" correctly. It's not "Samyurai"; it's "Samurai." If you're being paid to read the book, taking the time to learn the correct pronunciation of the title should be a given.

Good summary. Poor attempt at Japanese names.

I would say it's a great book but it was so hard to listen to the narrator screw up the pronunciation. He even says "sami rai". C'mon you can't even pronounce that right?

A good jumping in point

The narrative is quite broad, and naturally a bit thin in places as a consequence. In general, the author provides a good overview of the various periods, and that gives a great jumping in point for further reading. The biggest gripe I had was that it was sometimes difficult to tell just how much time was passing. The other concern, which falls squarely on my "western ear" is that distinguishing and remembering different actors is difficult without being previously familiar with Japanese names. Over all, worth the listen.