Burning and Building

“This fascinating chronicle of the development of mass education in Japan before and after the watershed Meiji restoration of 1868 brings to life the complexity of educational development there. Japan was one of the first countries to develop a mass education system in the latter 18th-century, mostly as the result of local initiatives...This volume provides an excellent analysis of a central period of Japan’s educational change and development, focusing on both policy shifts and local initiatives and reactions.”—P. G. Altbach, Choice

“Through a keen and lucid analysis, Platt shows the modern school system to have emerged in a complex negotiation among teachers, school administrators, local notables, and national bureaucrats.”—Journal of Asian History