Bibliografía: p. 475-480. -- Index

Peace and democracy in two systems : external policy and internal conflict / John W. Dower -- Japan's position in the world system / Bruce Cumings -- The past in the present / Carol Gluck -- Growth versus success : Japan's economic policy in historical perspective / Laura E. Hein -- The structure and transformation of conservative rule / Gary D. Allinson -- Negotiating social contracts / Sheldon Garon, Mike Mochizuki -- Dialectics of economic growth, national power, and distributive struggles / Koji Taira -- Finding a place in metropolitan Japan : ideologies, institutions, and everyday life / William W. Kelly -- Formations of mass culture / Marilyn Ivy -- Consuming and saving / Charles Yuji Horioka -- The death of "good wife, wise mother"? / Kathleen S. Uno -- Unplaced persons and movements for place / Frank K. Upham -- Altered states : the body politics of "being-woman" / Sandra Buckley -- Contests for the workplace / Andrew Gordon -- Intellectuals and politics / J. Victor Koschmann -- The dynamics of political opposition / James W. White

As they examine three related themes of postwar history, the authors describe an ongoing historical process marked by unexpected changes, such as Japan's extraordinary economic growth, and unanticipated continuities, such as the endurance of conservative rule.