Patriots and Redeemers in Japan: Motives in the Meiji Restoration 1st Edition

Horribly Boring!!! Unbelievably pompous with vocabulary that has nothing to do with the topic under discussion. The book has 133 pages that could have been summarized in less than fifty. Instead the author massively pads out with ideological orientation of fringe elements that had no bearing on the "restoration" of the imperial court. (See- anyone can use such verbage to expand writing. It still sounds like academic b.s.) Hopefully this review will deter someone from buying this garbage.The four groups under discussion were 1. The loyalists -wanted to redeem the national image and thought themselves patriots.2.The old guard -the samurai loyal to the shogunate. 3.The common people who only wanted stability. Some favored one side or the other and some just wanted change. 4. The foreigners -most sided with the Shogunate for economic stability.The book has seven chapters with one and seven being the prologue and epilogue. Meaningless waste of time.Chapter two has nonsense on how the Japanese perceive history through "time" rather than "space". WTF!Chapters 3+4 have brief value describing the Shogunate and its history as well as the four aforementioned groups of people and their respective impacts on society.Chapters 5+6 describes a pair of fringe religions in the 1860's and what can best be described as a Japanese "hippie" movement that danced and sang it's way across the nation during this period. Never came across that before in any text concerning the time period. Also, not relevant to the topic at all!After collecting an assortment of books in Japanese studies, this reviewer has never thrown a book into the recycling bin until now.Consider myself fortunate only cost nine dollars from marketplace seller. Patriots and Redeemers fails on all levels of reading material.