Reasonable Men, Powerful Words Political Culture and Expertise in Twentieth Century Japan

"This is a splendid book, and the research--unusually challenging in both its nature and its scope--is strong. Laura Hein introduces us to the lives and work of an influential group of mid-20th century Japanese economists and to the rise of social-science thinking in modern Japan. She conveys in vivid detail a number of developments that highlight the complex nature of the country's modernity."—John Dower, Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Laura Hein has given us a very valuable contribution to the history of social sciences in Japan, especially the history of economics as a social science, and most of all as a demonstration of the salience of Marxism in economic thought on the left across decades from the late 1920s through the 1970s. . . . She writes invitingly and engagingly."—Andrew E. Barshay, University of California, Berkeley