Posts

Showing posts from March, 2021

Survey of Stephen Turnbull Samurai Texts

Image
  My reading theme for March 2021 included books by Dr. Stephen Turnbull about Samurai and closely related topics in Japanese history. These are a few thoughts on the titles that I (Richard) read.  Introduction Dr. Turnbull is the most prolific author I have encountered while researching reputable martial arts books. He earned his PhD from Leeds University in 1996, with his thesis addressing Japan's Kakure Kirishitan , or "hidden Christian" communities. I first encountered his work in the form of his excellent 2018 book  Ninja: Unmasking the Myth , which I reviewed for Martial Journal .  This post will include two main sections. The first part offers a deeper look at 4 of Dr. Turnbull's books. They are pictured at the top of the post. The second part lists 27 books that I briefly reviewed. I will make a comment on each.  I previewed these titles in a series of social media posts using the hash tag #StephenTurnbull. Each features art samples from the books. You can se