Books etc about the STW era?

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Could someone suggest some interesting books to read about this time period? Would like to be prepared when the game finally arrives.

[Andres]

Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa
Taiko - Eiji Yoshikawa
Shogun - James Clavell; I strongly recommend you to also watch the miniseries based on that one; they're available on dvd nowadays.

[Kagemusha]

If you are interested in the period.This place is a must if you want to gather basic information.There are maps,wiki,biographies.timelines and a forum full of discussions about the period:

http://samurai-archives.com/

Here is for example a nice article about the military aspects of a Daimyo:

http://www.samurai-archives.com/military.html

[Subotan]

The Making of Modern Japan, by Jansen, is just after the time period, but it so amazingly fantastic that it's a must read for anyone interested in Japanese history. The Meiji Period is what is best covered, but the details of life in the Daimyo and the social history of Edo period is just breathtaking. Highly recommended.

[edyzmedieval]

I finished Musashi a couple of days ago, before S2TW was announced.

Absolutely fantastic book. The narrative is incredible, and if you want to get the "feel" of the era, read it.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I'll check the bookstores in here but I doubt I'll find them. Though.. perhaps I'm lucky this time.

[Kagemusha]

I'll check the bookstores in here but I doubt I'll find them. Though.. perhaps I'm lucky this time.

Well if you want some lighter reading.There are tons of books or rather booklets mostly from Stephen Turnbull published by Osprey publishing.Good book from him to start with would be Samurai Sourcebook.You can get it used starting from about 20 bucks in amazon.

http://shopping.yahoo.com/9781854095...haR5_pGUwbFt0A

For more indepth read i suggest for example books of Cambridge history of Japan series, like the Warrior rule in Japan:

http://www.amazon.com/Warrior-Rule-J...687934&sr=1-22

Generally speaking Amazon and other online shops are the easiest way to get hold of some of the better books, which will be unlikely to be found in book stores next door.

[Tony Furze]

"Silk" by Alessandro Baricco gets the tone and atmosphere nicely.

[Tomisama]

Osprey has tons of books on the subject.

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/eastern_warfare/

If I recall correctly Steven Turnbull is the expert.

http://stephenturnbull.com/

And for movies, Ran was the start of it all (Shogun Total War), and see more on this page:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...d-keywords=RAN

[johnhughthom]

http://manuals.gamersgate.com/STWG_History_English.pdf

A lot of interesting stuff in the book that came with the original Shogun. I'm allowed to link this right? It's from GamersGate where I bought the downloadable Shogun.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Shogun - James Clavell; I strongly recommend you to also watch the miniseries based on that one; they're available on dvd nowadays.

I'll definitely second that recommendation. The miniseries wasn't bad, but it only showed the Englishman's point of view, leaving a lot of the Japanese characters and plot out.

CR

[Seyavash]

I would recommend The Tale of the Heike tanslated by Helen McCullough

http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Heike-Hel.../dp/0804718032

It pre-dates the STW period but it deals with the Genpei War which gave rise to the samurai and the first shogunate.

[Tomisama]

Besides the RAN movie and the Shogun series, Heaven And Earth – “1991 by Haruki Kadokawa” (there are others – so be careful),

displays the warfare of the era, though the plot may not be overwhelming.

http://www.beyondhollywood.com/heave...-movie-review/

The trailer at least is worth watching

Heaven And Earth (1991)

http://www.fancast.com/movies/Ten-To...d-Earth/videos


Not sure if you can still get the dvd, but there was one made.