Review by Choice Review
Lewis's book is not about protest in general but is instead concerned with a very specific set of riots in Japan confined to late summer 1918, the inevitably mentioned but rarely analyzed (in English) Rice Riots of that year. Lewis suggests that his subject is mass protest in general because the so-called Rice Riots were not a single, unitary phenomenon rooted in class warfare as is usually claimed, but were instead numerous distinct acts carried out by varying players with varying motivations and protest strategies. Thus, the coal field riots of August and September 1918 differed sharply from contemporaneous urban riots, just as both differed in origins and tone from the more traditionalist protests in rural communities. According to Lewis (Michigan State) these mass movements were collectively significant because they brought into being new forms of public participation in the political process and were themselves forms of political discourse for disenfranchised elements of Japanese society. Lewis provides significant new insights not only about the Rice Riots but also about the economic and social conditions that energized them. An important book for students of modern Japan's history, upper-division undergraduate level and above. -W. D. Kinzley, University of South Carolina
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
