Samurai: The True Story of the Last Warrior

The preface identifies that this book is three stories, intertwined. Primarily, it is the story of Saigo Takamori - known as the Last Samurai. Although this immediately conjures the movie of the same name, staring the midget scientologist, put that from your mind. It is far from fact, and should be disregarded.

For the most part, the book is a biography. The second story referred to, is the story of Japanese history from their isolation to the Meiji Restoration and the Satsuma Rebellion, and the third story is that of Samurai, and the end of their heritage. To be fair, the second and third stories are really told in the context of Saigo's biography.

Saigo is a complex character, and this era of Japanese history is complicated. Saigo ends up on both sides of the complex argument, ultimately establishing the army that in turn ends up running him down as a rebel, and results in his death. The author manages to work through the complexities and explains each step in the politics, and the role of the daimyos, the shogun and the Emperor.

The writing is simple, the story is well organised, and the background and technicalities are introduced at the right time, and in the right level of detail - not so much as to sidetrack the story, but enough to provide an understanding to maintain the story. There are a lot of plenty of photographs, some in colour others in b&w scattered through the text.

3 stars.