"An essential chapter in the story of Japan's early engagement with America, and America's with Japan. Scholars of this extraordinary moment owe Benjamin Duke--himself a veteran educator bridging both cultures--a debt of gratitude for his deep research into a pivotal but overlooked figure."
Janice Nimura, author of Daughters of the Samurai:Journey from East to West and Back
"An amazing story, beautifully told by Benjamin Duke's skilled hand. Duke's tenacity and deep digging are admirable, a work of true scholarship."
Thomas R. H. Havens, Professor of Japanese History, Northeastern University
Japan ICU Foundation
"A seminal work of meticulous and detailed scholarship, Dr. David Murray: Superintendent of Education in the Empire of Japan, 1873-1879 is an inherently fascinating story from beginning to end. Enhanced for academia with the inclusion of two pages of Notes and a six page Index, Dr. David Murray: Superintendent of Education in the Empire of Japan, 1873-1879 is a unique and especially recommended."
Midwest Book Review
"Duke's biography is a detailed examination of Murray before and especially during his years as the superintendent of education at this crucial time in Japanese history. There is probably no scholar more knowledgeable about education policies during the Meiji era."
Journal of Asian Studies
"The scope and extent of the book go far beyond a mere biography of Murray....This book is to be recommended in that it provides a useful introduction to the Japan-related work of David Murray, both in the United States in the 1860s and Japan when he finally got there in the following decade. This is a lacuna in scholarship which undoubtedly needed filling. It also provides a very full account of Japan-U.S. relations in the bakumatsu and early Meiji period. It contains a wealth of new information and a decent number of illustrations. The book is quite readable, with well-structured paragraphs....A welcome addition to scholarly works on the history of the period."
Journal of Japanese Studies
