This is a significant story, and Perrin tells it marvelously well, with rich detail, captivating quotations from observers of the time, both Japanese and Western, and a wealth of revealing comparisons with contemporary technology, warfare, and life in Europe. This little book is both thought-provoking and a delight to read. ? Edwin O. Reischauer, Former U.S. Ambassador to JapanProfessor Noel Perrin has written an elegant monograph, magnificently illustrated with a wealth of Japanese prints. ? New York Times Book ReviewThrough his description of one historical event in Japan?s national experience, Noel Perrin has written a book as tight and elegant as haiku. The story is a fascinating one: Japan?s introduction to, mastery of, and subsequent abandonment of, the gun.

? Perrin?s work is so crisp and interesting, and so loaded with background information and revealing anecdotes, that the whole peculiar episode it describes jumps to life from its pages. ? The New Republic[Perrin] has set down a fascinating story, one which has long been inaccessible to the West. Giving Up the Gun, written for general readership, is throughly enjoyable-filled with marvelous anecdotes and illustrations. ? Washington Post Book World.