In ten articles written and mostly published between 1977 and 1994, Martin (modern history, U. of Freiburg) explains that the similarities between Japan and Germany go back nearly to the foundation of the two national states, in 1869 and 1871 respectively. He documents how after trying several other approaches, the Japanese adopted the Prusso-German model of modernization, and restructured the constitution, government administration, the legal and education systems, the army, and finally the social system. They both recovered from the depression of the 1930s by armament production and supra- nationalist ideology, and were then natural allies by the time World War II began. He traces their continuing parallel development through the postwar era to the present. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
