- Table View
- List View
Jane Addams and the Men of the Chicago School, 1892-1918
by Mary Jo DeeganJane Addams is well known for her leadership in urban reform, social settlements, pacifism, social work, and women’s suffrage.The men of the Chicago School are well known for their leadership in founding sociology and the study of urban life.What has remained hidden however, is that Jane Addams played a pivotal role in the development of sociology and worked closely with the male faculty at the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago.
Jane Addams and the Men of the Chicago School, 1892-1918
by Mary Jo DeeganJane Addams is well known for her leadership in urban reform, social settlements, pacifism, social work, and women's suffrage.The men of the Chicago School are well known for their leadership in founding sociology and the study of urban life.What has remained hidden however, is that Jane Addams played a pivotal role in the development of sociology and worked closely with the male faculty at the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago.By using extensive archival material, Mary Jo Deegan is the first to document Addams's sociological significance and the existence of a sexual division of labor during the founding years of the discipline. As the leader of the women's network, Addams was able to bridge these two spheres of work and knowledge.Through an analysis of the changing relations between the male and female networks, Deegan shows that the Chicago men varied widely in their understanding and acceptance of her sociological though and action.Despite this variation, it was through her work with the men of the Chicago School that Addams left a legacy for sociology as a way of thinking, an area of study, and a methodological approach to data collecting.This previously unexamined heritage of American sociology will be of value to anyone interested in the history of the social sciences, especially sociology and social work, the development of American social thought, the role of professional women, the Progressive Era, and the intellectual contributions of Jane Addams.
Jane Addams in the Classroom
by David SchaafsmaOnce intent on being good to people, Jane Addams later dedicated herself to the idea of being good with people, establishing mutually-responsive and reciprocal relationships with those she served at Hull House. The essays in Jane Addams in the Classroom explore how Addams's life, work, and philosophy provide invaluable lessons for teachers seeking connection with their students. Balancing theoretical and practical considerations, the collection examines Addams's emphasis on listening to and learning from those around her and encourages contemporary educators to connect with students through innovative projects and teaching methods. In the first essays, Addams scholars lay out how her narratives drew on experience, history, and story to explicate theories she intended as guides to practice. Six teacher-scholars then establish Addams's ongoing relevance by connecting her principles to exciting events in their own classrooms. An examination of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award and a fictional essay on Addams's work and ideas round out the volume. Accessible and wide-ranging, Jane Addams in the Classroom offers inspiration for educators while adding to the ongoing reconsideration of Addams's contributions to American thought.
Jane Addams's Evolutionary Theorizing: Constructing “Democracy and Social Ethics”
by Marilyn FischerIn Jane Addams’s Evolutionary Theorizing, Marilyn Fischer advances the bold and original claim that Addams’s reasoning in her first book, Democracy and Social Ethics, is thoroughly evolutionary. While Democracy and Social Ethics, a foundational text of classical American pragmatism, is praised for advancing a sensitive and sophisticated method of ethical deliberation, Fischer is the first to explore its intellectual roots. Examining essays Addams wrote in the 1890s and showing how they were revised for Democracy and Social Ethics, Fischer draws from philosophy, history, literature, rhetoric, and more to uncover the array of social evolutionary thought Addams engaged with in her texts—from British socialist writings on the evolution of democracy to British and German anthropological accounts of the evolution of morality. By excavating Addams’s evolutionary reasoning and rhetorical strategies, Fischer reveals the depth, subtlety, and richness of Addams’s thought.
Jane Addams: Progressive Pioneer of Peace, Philosophy, Sociology, Social Work and Public Administration (Pioneers in Arts, Humanities, Science, Engineering, Practice #10)
by Patricia M. ShieldsThis book examines the life and works of Jane Addams who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1931). Addams led an international women's peace movement and is noted for spearheading a first-of-its-kind international conference of women at The Hague during World War I. She helped to found the Women's International League of Peace and Freedom. She was also a prophetic peace theorist whose ideas were dismissed by her contemporaries. Her critics conflated her activism and ideas with attempts to undermine the war effort. Perhaps more important, her credibility was challenged by sexist views characterizing her as a “silly” old woman. Her omission as a pioneering, feminist, peace theorist is a contemporary problem. This book recovers and reintegrates Addams and her concept of “positive peace,” which has relevancy for UN peacekeeping operations and community policing. Addams began her public life as a leader of the U.S. progressive era (1890 - 1920) social reform movement. She combined theory and action through her settlement work in the, often contentious, immigrant communities of Chicago. These experiences were the springboard for her innovative theories of democracy and peace, which she advanced through extensive public speaking engagements, 11 books and hundreds of articles. While this book focuses on Addams as peace theorist and activist it also shows how her eclectic interests and feminine standpoint led to pioneering efforts in American pragmatism, sociology, public administration and social work. Each field, which traces its origin to this period, is actively recovering Addams’ contributions.
Jane Jacobs's First City: Learning from Scranton, Pennsylvania
by Glenna LangA thorough investigation of how Jane Jacobs’s ideas about the life and economy of great cities grew from her home city, ScrantonJane Jacobs’s First City vividly reveals how this influential thinker and writer’s classic works germinated in the once vibrant, mid-size city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, where Jane spent her initial eighteen years. In the 1920s and 1930s, Scranton was a place of enormous diversity and opportunity. Small businesses of all kinds abounded and flourished, quality public education was available to and supported by all, and even recent immigrants could save enough to buy a house. Opposing political parties joined forces to tackle problems, and citizens worked together for the public good.Through interviews with contemporary Scrantonians and research of historic newspapers, city directories, and vital records, author Glenna Lang has uncovered Scranton as young Jane experienced it and shows us the lasting impact of her growing up in this thriving and accessible environment. Readers can follow the development of Jane’s acute observational abilities from childhood through her passion in early adulthood to understand and write about what she saw. Reflecting Jane’s belief in trusting one’s own direct observation above all, this volume has been richly illustrated with historic and modern color images that help bring alive a lost Scranton. The book demonstrates why, at the end of Jacobs’s life, her thoughts and conversations increasingly returned to Scranton and the potential for cohesion and inclusiveness in all cities.
Jane Jacobs: The Last Interview
by Jane Jacobs"Jane Jacobs is the kind of writer who produces in her readers such changed ways of looking at the world that she becomes an oracle, or final authority." --The New York SunHailed by the New York Times Book Review as "perhaps the single most influential work in the history of town planning," Jane Jacobs's The Death and Life of Great American Cities was instantly recognized as a masterpiece upon its publication in 1961. In the decades that followed, Jacobs remained a brilliant and revered commentator on architecture, urban life, and economics until her death in 2006. These interviews capture Jacobs at her very best and are an essential reminder of why Jacobs was--and remains--unrivaled in her analyses and her ability to cut through cant and received wisdom.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Jane on the Brain: Exploring The Science Of Social Intelligence With Jane Austen
by Wendy JonesAn Austen scholar and therapist reveals Jane Austen's intuitive ability to imbue her characters with hallmarks of social intelligence—and how these beloved works of literature can further illuminate the mind-brain connection. Why is Jane Austen so phenomenally popular? Why do we read Pride and Prejudice again and again? Why do we delight in Emma’s mischievous schemes? Why do we care that Anne Elliot of Persuasion suffers? We care because it is our biological destiny to be interested in people and their stories—the human brain is a social brain. And Austen’s characters are so believable, that for many of us, they are not just imaginary beings, but friends whom we know and love. And thanks to Austen's ability to capture the breadth and depth of human psychology so thoroughly, we feel that she empathizes with us, her readers. Humans have a profound need for empathy, to know that we are not alone with our joys and sorrows. And then there is attachment, denial, narcissism, and of course, love, to name a few. We see ourselves and others reflected in Austen’s work. Social intelligence is one of the most highly developed human traits when compared with other animals How did is evolve? Why is it so valuable? Wendy Jones explores the many facets of social intelligence and juxtaposes them with the Austen cannon. Brilliantly original and insightful, this fusion of psychology, neuroscience, and literature provides a heightened understanding of one of our most beloved cultural institutions—and our own minds.
Janesville: An American Story (A Business Award-Winner)
by Amy Goldstein* Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year * Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize * 800-CEO-READ Business Book of the Year * A New York Times Notable Book * A Washington Post Notable Book * An NPR Best Book of 2017 * A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2017 * An Economist Best Book of 2017 * A Business Insider Best Book of 2017 * &“A gripping story of psychological defeat and resilience&” (Bob Woodward, The Washington Post)—an intimate account of the fallout from the closing of a General Motors assembly plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, and a larger story of the hollowing of the American middle class.This is the story of what happens to an industrial town in the American heartland when its main factory shuts down—but it&’s not the familiar tale. Most observers record the immediate shock of vanished jobs, but few stay around long enough to notice what happens next when a community with a can-do spirit tries to pick itself up. Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Amy Goldstein spent years immersed in Janesville, Wisconsin, where the nation&’s oldest operating General Motors assembly plant shut down in the midst of the Great Recession. Now, with intelligence, sympathy, and insight into what connects and divides people in an era of economic upheaval, Goldstein shows the consequences of one of America&’s biggest political issues. Her reporting takes the reader deep into the lives of autoworkers, educators, bankers, politicians, and job re-trainers to show why it&’s so hard in the twenty-first century to recreate a healthy, prosperous working class. &“Moving and magnificently well-researched...Janesville joins a growing family of books about the evisceration of the working class in the United States. What sets it apart is the sophistication of its storytelling and analysis&” (Jennifer Senior, The New York Times). &“Anyone tempted to generalize about the American working class ought to meet the people in Janesville. The reporting behind this book is extraordinary and the story—a stark, heartbreaking reminder that political ideologies have real consequences—is told with rare sympathy and insight&” (Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Soul of a New Machine).
Janusz Korczak: Educating for Justice (SpringerBriefs in Education)
by Joop W. BerdingThis book presents the educational view and practice of the Polish-Jewish doctor, writer and pedagogue Janusz Korczak (Warsaw 1878–Treblinka 1942). In the authors' reconstruction five core elements stand out: respect for every child; participation; justice; dialogue as expression and communication; self-awareness and reflection on the part of the educator.These elements do not constitute a well-rounded theory or philosophy, but are part of many stories of living together with children, in Korczak’s case orphans. Korczak, actively involving the children themselves, organized this life in such a way that justice ruled. He is the pedagogue of narrativity and of democratic upbringing. Korczak explored many, and today still challenging ways of participative education.The book shows that besides the now domineering positivist outlook on education, with its technocratic language and stress on output, standards, testing, etc., another language is possible, one that is more practice-based and that teachers will relate to immediately: love for children, a pedagogical ethos, and seeking ways to live together in a just way.
Japan and the Pursuit of a New American Identity: Work and Education in a Multicultural Age (Routledge Revivals)
by Walter FeinbergFirst published in 1993, Japan and the Pursuit of a New American Identity is a sophisticated analysis of the mission of education in a multicultural age. Arguing that American education has been too long constrained by conservative discourse – which positions schools and students as weapons in an international competition with the Japanese – author Walter Feinberg assesses the cultural and philosophical limits of conservative vision as popularized by exponents Allan Bloom and E. D. Hirsch. Feinberg then develops a vision of education which accommodates the growing cultural diversity of American society and American schools. At the heart of Feinberg’s study is a unique philosophical analysis of Japanese and American attitudes towards work and education. Through a series of sensitively developed interview with American and Japanese workers, managers, parents, and teachers who have experienced life in one another’s culture, he examines the implications of our profound cultural differences with the Japanese for the development of a new American, multicultural identity. This book will be of interest to students of education, pedagogy, history and public policy.
Japan and the Rise of China: Power Dynamics and Business Relations (Routledge Studies in International Business and the World Economy)
by Ferguson EvansThis book provides a comprehensive study of Japan’s evolving relationship with China since 1949, tracing the shifting dynamics from a distant relationship during the early communist era to a more cooperative phase in the late 20th century, and finally to the growing tensions of the 21st century.The book analyzes how Japan has responded to China’s rise from a third-world country to a global superpower, with particular attention to key themes such as economic relations, geopolitical tensions and strategic military developments. Drawing from Japanese- and Chinese-language sources, it offers an in-depth perspective on the mutual perceptions and responses shaping these two major East Asian powers. The book features a unique combination of historical analysis and contemporary thematic chapters that explore Japan’s strategic options as a middle power facing China’s growing influence. It provides readers with rare insights from non-Western sources, broadening the scope of understanding beyond typical English-language analysis. The book’s structure allows for a detailed exploration of both countries’ trajectories, making it a valuable resource for understanding the complex power shifts in East Asia.It is ideal for scholars, researchers and advanced students of international relations, East Asian studies, international business and global geopolitics. It also appeals to those interested in the broader implications of China’s rise and Japan’s role in the shifting global order.
Japan and the West: The Perception Gap (Routledge Revivals)
by Keizo NagataniThis book first published in 1998 containes the work of Six members of the Centre for Japanese Research (CJR), an area unit of the Institute for Asian Research at the University of British Columbia. They were motivated by the fact that after over a century of cultural, economic and political interaction between the two regions, mutual misunderstandings or perception gaps remain deep and wide and by the belief that highlighting these differences, as they manifest in diverse areas and manners, might potentially contribute to a better understanding, if not an immediate narrowing, of the gaps. The six essays that follow are the products of such group efforts. Three authors are Westerners and the remaining three are Japanese by origin. By speciality, they represent modern Japanese literature, cultural anthropology, art history, political science, economics and geography.
Japan to 1600: A Social and Economic History
by William Wayne Farris<p>Japan to 1600 surveys Japanese historical development from the first evidence of human habitation in the archipelago to the consolidation of political power under the Tokugawa shogunate at the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is unique among introductory texts for its focus on developments that impacted all social classes rather than the privileged and powerful few. In accessible language punctuated with lively and interesting examples, William Wayne Farris weaves together major economic and social themes. The book focuses on continuity and change in social and economic structures and experiences, but it by no means ignores the political and cultural. Most chapters begin with an outline of political developments, and cultural phenomena―particularly religious beliefs―are also taken into account. In addition, Japan to 1600 addresses the growing connectedness between residents of the archipelago and the rest of the world. <p>Farris describes how the early inhabitants of the islands moved from a forager mode of subsistence to a more predominantly agrarian base, supplemented by sophisticated industries and an advanced commercial economy. He reveals how the transition to farming took place over many centuries as people moved back and forth from settled agriculture to older forager-collector regimes in response to ecological, political, and personal factors. Economics influenced demographics, and, as the population expanded, the class structure became increasingly complex and occupational specialization and status divisions more intricate. Along with this came trends toward more tightly knit corporate organizations (village, city, market, family), and classes of servants, slaves, and outcastes formed. <p>In reflecting the diversity of traditional Japan’s economy and society, Japan to 1600 is well suited for both undergraduate and graduate courses and will be a welcome introduction to Japan’s early history for scholars and students of other disciplines and regions.</p>
Japan's Administrative Elite
by B. C. KohA major player in Japanese society is its government bureaucracy. Neither Japan's phenomenal track record in the world marketplace nor its remarkable success in managing its domestic affairs can be understood without insight into how its government bureaucracy works—how its elite administrators are recruited, socialized, and promoted; how they interact among themselves and with other principal players in Japan, notably politicians; how they are rewarded; and what happens to them when they retire at a relatively young age. Yet, despite its pivotal importance, there is no comprehensive and up-to-date study of Japan's administrative elite in the English language. This book seeks to fill that gap. Koh examines patterns of continuity and change, identifies similarities and differences between Japan and four other industrialized democracies (the United States, Britain, France, and Germany), and assesses the implications of the Japanese model of public management. Though many features of Japanese bureaucracy are found in the Western democracies, the degree to which they manifest themselves in Japan appears to be unsurpassed. Koh shows that the Japanese model of public management contains both strengths and weaknesses. For example, the price Japan pays for the high caliber of its administrative elite is the stifling rigidity of a multiple track system, a system with second-class citizens and demoralized "non-career" civil servants who actually bear a lion's share of administrative burden. The Japanese experience demonstrates not only how steep the price of success can be but also the enduring effects of culture over structure. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1989.
Japan's Changing Role in Humanitarian Crises (The University of Sheffield/Routledge Japanese Studies Series)
by Yukiko NishikawaExtensive news coverage of humanitarian crises, especially on television, has led to a strong public awareness of the importance of humanitarian activities. This innovative book examines the evolution of Japan’s response to humanitarian crises, placing it in the context of global debates on humanitarianism. Tracing developments from the Meiji period through to the present day, the book explores the broader cultural and historical framework within which Japanese humanitarian ideas and attitudes to human rights have developed. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach the book analyzes Japan’s humanitarian ideas, values and social practices, exploring the changing perceptions and attitudes to overseas assistance. Based on primary research including interview material it provides a deeper understanding of the upsurge in Japanese involvement in humanitarian crises, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s. It includes a variety of case studies with a detailed consideration of Japan’s assistance in East Timor. Nishikawa analyzes the case from historical, geographical and political perspectives, illustrating the strategic and political considerations that have influenced the shape of Japan’s humanitarian activities.
Japan's Emerging Youth Policy: Getting Young Adults Back to Work (Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies)
by Tuukka ToivonenFrom the 1960s onwards, Japan’s rapid economic growth coincided with remarkably smooth transitions from school to work and with internationally low levels of youth unemployment. However, this changed dramatically in the 1990s, and by the 2000s, youth employment came to be recognized as a serious concern requiring an immediate response. What shape did this response take? Japan’s Emerging Youth Policy is the first book to investigate in detail how the state, experts, the media as well as youth workers have reacted to the troubling rise of youth joblessness in early 21st century Japan. The answer that emerges is as complex as it is fascinating, but comprises two essential elements. First, instead of institutional ‘carrots and sticks’ as seen in Europe, actors belonging to mainstream Japan have deployed controversial labels such as NEET (‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’) to steer inactive youth into low-wage jobs. A second approach has been crafted by entrepreneurial youth support leaders that builds on what the author refers to as ‘communities of recognition’. As illustrated in this book using evidence from real sites of youth support, one such methodology consists of ‘exploring the user’ (i.e. the support-receiver) whereby complex disadvantages, family relationships and local employment contexts are skilfully negotiated. It is this second dimension in Japan’s response to youth exclusion that suggests sustainable, internationally attractive solutions to the employment dilemmas that virtually all post-industrial nations currently face but which none have yet seriously addressed. Based on extensive fieldwork that draws on both sociological and policy science approaches, this book will be welcomed by students, scholars and practitioners in the fields of Japanese and East Asian studies, comparative social policy, youth sociology, the sociology of social problems and social work.
Japan's Foreign Policy After the Cold War: Coping with Change
by G.L. CurtisA documentation of the impact of recent changes in the international system of Japan's foreign policy. Chapters include: diplomatic style; the thrust for economic success; the search for security; and the impact of international relations with neighbouring countries.
Japan's Industrious Revolution
by Akira HayamiThis book explains in fascinating detail how economic and social transformations in pre-1600 Japan led to an industrious revolution in the early modern period and how the fruits of the Industrious Revolution are what have supported Japan since the eighteenth century, improving living standards and leading to the formation of the work ethic of modern Japan. The arrival of the Sengoku Period in the sixteenth century saw the emergence and domination of government by the warrior class. It was Tokugawa Ieyasu who unified the realm. Yet this unity did not give rise to an autocratic state, as the shogun was recognized merely as a main pillar of the warrior class. Economically, however, from the fourteenth century, currency payments for shōen nengu (taxes paid to the proprietor) became standard, and currency circulation began, primarily in the central region. Under Tokugawa rule, organized domestic coinage of currency began, opening the way to establishing a national economic society. Also, agricultural land was surveyed through cadastral surveys known as kenchi. Land values were converted in terms of rice, so the expected rice yields for each village were assessed, and the lords used this as a benchmark for imposing taxes. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Japan experienced a "great transition," and conditions for peasants, agriculture, and farming villages underwent great changes. Inefficient traditional agriculture using peasants in a state of servitude was transformed into highly efficient small-sized farming operations which relied on family labor. As production yields increased due to labor-intensive agriculture, the profits obtained by the peasants improved their living standards. The stem-family system became the norm through which work ethics and even literacy were transmitted. This very change was the result of the "industrious revolution" in Japan. The book thus presents the framework of the facts of pre-industrial Japanese history and depicts pre-modern Japan from a macroscopic point of view, showing how the industrious revolution came about. It is certain to be of great interest to economists and historians alike.
Japan's New Middle Class: The Salary Man and His Family in a Tokyo Suburb
by Ezra F. VogelThis title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1963.
Japan's Outcaste Youth: Education for Liberation
by June A. GordonJapan's attempt to project to the world an image of solid middle-class national identity is challenged by the Burakumin, an outcaste group of indigenous Japanese citizens who have been subjugated for centuries to political, economic, and religious discrimination. In the 1960s the efforts of this group and its supporters led to a 40-year national program of economic aid and educational programs designed to move these people out of poverty and increase life options. These programs, recently terminated, have left the Burakumin and other marginalized groups uncertain of their future. Based on ten years of ethnographic inquiry, Gordon's book explores the views of educators and activists caught in this period of transition after having their lives and careers shaped by the political demands of a liberation movement dedicated to achieving educational equity for the Burakumin and their disadvantaged neighbors. Gordon provides the context of the efforts to achieve the human rights of the Burakumin and the complexity of their identity in a Japanese society struggling with economic and demographic globalization.
Japan's Postwar History
by Gary D. AllinsonJapan's Postwar History presents the first integrated analysis of the social, economic, and political changes that Japan has experienced since 1945. Drawing on more than three decades of first-hand experience with the country, Gary D. Allinson depicts a dynamic, often turbulent history and illuminates its impact on individuals, families, and communities. Between 1932 and 1952, war, devastation, and foreign occupation caused significant changes in Japan. However, the society that emerged during the 1950s still resembled its prewar predecessor in many ways, according to Allinson. Thereafter, by exploiting a fortunate combination of domestic and international conditions the Japanese people ushered in twenty years of extensive development. Growth created problems as well as profits and imposed some wrenching adjustments after the world economic crises of 1973 and 1979. Nonetheless, Japanese society steadily assimilated the benefits of affluence, Allinson argues. Until worldwide recession drew Japan into a severe economic downturn in the late 1980s, it continued to adapt to the social and political demands of a rich nation enmeshed in a global economy. By the mid-1990s, Japan had reached the end of a cycle of historical change. Plagued with uncertainty and striving to find a formula for regeneration, Japan once again found itself confronting the dilemmas of inequality, instability, and insecurity.
Japan's Role in International Politics since World War II (Dimensions of Contemporary Japan #6)
by Edward R. BeauchampFirst published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Japan, Sport and Society: Tradition and Change in a Globalizing World (Sport in the Global Society)
by Joseph Maguire Masayoshi NakayamaEvolving for centuries in relative isolation, sport in Japan developed a unique character reflective of Japanese culture and society. In recent decades, Japan's drive towards cultural and economic modernization has consciously incorporated a modernization of its sports cultures. Japan, Sport and Society provides insights into this process, revealing the tensions between continuity and change, tradition and modernity, the local and the global in a culture facing the new economic and political realities of our modern world. The book explores three broad areas of interest: sport and modern society in Japan current issues in social reconstruction and reproduction in sport modernization, globalization and sport in Japan. Providing unprecedented access to new work from Japanese scholars, and raising key questions of globalization and cultural identity, this text represents a fascinating resource for students and researchers of sport and society.
Japan, the Sustainable Society: The Artisanal Ethos, Ordinary Virtues, and Everyday Life in the Age of Limits
by John LieBy the late twentieth century, Japan had gained worldwide attention as an economic powerhouse. Having miraculously risen from the ashes of World War II, it was seen by many as a country to be admired if not emulated. But by the early 1990s, that bubble burst in spectacular fashion. The Japanese economic miracle was over. In this book, John Lie argues that in many ways the Japan of today has the potential to be even more significant than it was four decades ago. As countries face the prospect of a world with decreasing economic growth and increasing environmental dangers, Japan offers a unique glimpse into what a viable future might look like—one in which people acknowledge the limits of the economy and environment while championing meaningful and sustainable ways of working and living. Beneath and beyond the rhetoric of growth, some Japanese are leading sustainable lives and creating a sustainable society. Though he does not prescribe a one-size-fits-all cure for the world, Lie makes the compelling case that contemporary Japanese society offers a possibility for how other nations might begin to valorize everyday life and cultivate ordinary virtues.