"The Duus" is a classic textbook of neurology, first written many years ago by Professor Peter Duus, a german neurologist very evidently trained in the classical tradition. The text teaches clinically important "basic" neurology (as the translator puts it) through an emphasis on neuroanatomy. The chapters take the reader through the principle components of human neuroanatomy and offer insights along the way on the clinical and pathological manifestations of disease - ie. what happens when the anatomy becomes disordered. The writing is clear on the whole, though the translation certainly could be better in areas. Overall a beautiful contribution to pedagogic neurologic literature.

It is a testimony to the very troubling slide in the quality of general medical education in many developed nations today, particularly in North America, that most students of medicine, and even most residents in neurology, have not even heard of "the Duus", prefering to use instead the silly little watered down "high yield" trash so prevalent in American medical schools.

In my opinion one of the best books about relationship between anatomical changes and clinical symptoms in neurology. It is continuation of tradition of german school in neurology. Contents of this book is focused on physical examination of the patient and do not concentrate on laboratory investigations. It supports recent knowledge about anatomy and physiology of central and peripheral nervous systems. It is written very precisely and consequently. The book contains very didactical figures and schemes performed by Gerhard Spitzer. They very simply and completely explain topographical relations. Most of the illustrations are double coloured. Descriptions of clinical cases enriche didactical values. It comprise a lot of informations which are compressed in relatively small volume. I warmly recommend this book for students of medicine who actually learn neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neuropathology and neurology as well as for postgraduated clinicians.

Found this book to be very easy to read and enjoy. The stories about the men involved with the 442nd show what group and individual courage is, and how important it is to remember what your relatives had to endure for our freendom.

Found this book very easy to read and enjoy. Side stories about the men involved in the 442nd keeps learning about them a joy to read. Been trying to expand my collection of books about these men and found this book to very enjoyable to read and use as an inspiration.

A very thorough and well-researched book on a heroic group of young Americans facing adversity at home and on the battlefield. The author skews the book more toward the Hawaiian Nisei in general, and the 100th Battalion in particular, than the mainland Nisei. Still, this is a must-have if you want to learn more about this chapter in our nation's history.

Concise,well presented view of the dynamics of Japanese Fuedal structures.

I was outraged when I started reading this book. I seldom read a history book so biased as this one. If the author had bothered to read Korean history books written by Korean scholars ( and some of them are translated in English for heaven's sake), this book would not have written in this manner.

The late 19th century and half part of the 20th century was the darkest period of Korean history. We lost our country and become subjected to the most brutal and oppressive colonization by Japanese government. The atrocities committed to Koreans during this period are only comparable to the Holocaust by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.

At the pacific war accelerated, they began to draft Korean men to fight or work in slave like conditions in mines and factories. They took young Korean girls with promises of jobs and then turned them to become " Comfort Women", the sex slaves of Japanese soldiers in various parts of Asia.

The use of Korean language and books were banned. They demanded that we changed our names to Japanse names. The systematic cultural genocide began to escalate. Rice and other crops were taken to Japanese armies and left Korean people in near starvation. Many Koreans left their homeland to China and Manchuria, even Russia in search for better lives.

When you write a book about Holocaust, you don't just ask German Nazi soldiers and fail to talk to Jewish victims. And this is exactly what the author had done here.

If the German government had paid compensations to various victims of Nazi era, why is it that Japanese government had not paid a cent to numerous victims of their brutality during the war and occupation of Korean penninsula?

They still have the arrogance to talk about the superioty of Japanes people and why the annexation of Korea was for the good of Korean people. I demand an apology from the author of this book to all Korean people.

This is an excellent book. I appreciate the sharp research and insightful interpretation of this period of East Asian History. My only criticism would be that I wish the thesis of Archaic, medieval-millitaristic form of imperialism as practiced by Japan and Russia in their colonial expansion was elaborated upon. Otherwise, I do buy into Professor Duus apologetic of defensive mechanism turned into opportunism (and eventually tyranny and abuse). This is not an easy book to read however, and requires an ability to read history in a objective manner. It is written from a selective point of view, and as Professor Duus explains in the introduction, it is a book wiha an emphasis on the Japanese experience (ie. primarily Japanese documents, testimony, statistics, etc). In my opinion, it makes for interesting reading when a book is relative to an unpopular perspective (another book in that vein would be "Redcoats and Rebels: An English Perspective of The American Revolution")and there should be dissension in interpretation if one is to have a decent historical dialogue. One should remember as one reads the book that the period between the Meiji restoration and Korean annexation was a period in which Japan was in the process of becoming a wester-style imperialist power. What I find facinating is that Japan conscioussly decided to play the European colonial/economic game; but ancient Confucian reverberations unconscioussly dictated how the game was to be played by the Japanese. The "onne-san" idea regarding sibling relationships, (ie. older brother/youger brother), as a basis political and economic relationship that led a struggling-to-become-western Japan to intervene "on behalf" of a reticent-Yangban-entrenched Korea is credible and, if one is familiar with the hierachial nature of Japanese society, logical. Finally, as an asian-american who was brought up despise Japanese imperal expanision in East Asia, (and the cultural smothering, tyranny and brutallity that went with it), it was hard for me too to swallow the possibility that Japan inacted in its expansion as a defense mechanism, but the evidence as disscussed in this book is compelling.

One of the many aspects of East Asian relations insufficiently appreciated in Western nations is the troubled history of Japan and its neighbors, specifically Korea. Peter Duus' The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1893-1910 is a an economic analysis of the relationship between Japan and Choson Korea before the Japanese Occupation. A very demanding book by a reputable Japan scholar, Abacus and the Sword requires a beginner's acquaintance with Japanese and Korean history, and a knowledge of international relations in the nineteenth century is also helpful

For those living outside of Korea, the reasons for Meiji Japan's occupation of Korea may seem unimportant, but, in all the countries of Northeast Asia, Japanese responsibility for many actions committed in the 20th Century are highly controversial and relevant. Debates concerning North Korean policy, Japanese militarization, Japanese war guilt, comfort women, Japan's economic recession and endemic corruption are all subjects affected by the histories of Japan and Korea. But this book also contributes to the discussion concerning colonialism and imperialism.

Why did an isolationist victim of Western imperialism become a conqueror itself? Instead of championing the rights of weaker nations, Japan determined to imitate it's American transgressors and build an empire of it's own, to compete with the West. This is Duus' starting point, which he painstakingly traces in its political and economic history. Duus argues, that industrialization was the condition for Japanese imperialism, not the reason. Furthermore, British, French, and American government support for empire-building affected how the Japanese government policies worked.

Although he admits so himself, I would prefer if Duus had used more Korean sources, especially when discussing the Korean resistance armies (uibyong-gun), but he uncovers the Japanese players and popular Japanese attitudes without bias. The other side of the equation is important, though, namely how Korea fell so easily to foreign domination. Duus also discusses the other international players, Russia and China. And the last chapter on Japanese cultural domination invaluably narrates how Japan obliterated a nascent Korean identity. Still, the Japanese accounts of Korean conditions are insightful, since Korean accounts are sparse and suspect.

Given the politicized nature of the two countries' relationship, the reader must be skeptical of any history. Undisputed data is sparse and analysis, particularly on the Korean sides, has progressed little from conspiracy theories. Any amount of sober analysis is welcome, and Duus delivers.