Shogun
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
Shogun
| Full title | Shōgun |
|---|---|
| Author | James Clavell |
| Published | 1975 |
| Recommended | 2 times |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | James Clavell’s novel of an English pilot wrecked on the coast of Japan in 1600 who survives by becoming useful and ends up a piece in the succession struggle that produced the Tokugawa shogunate. A long exercise in watching a confident European discover that his assumptions about honour, loyalty and truth are local. |
Shogun
Where I heard about it
- Dissident Teacher — on A Library to Build Great Americans, a 468-title curriculum published in December 2025, in the Ages 13-99+ band under Fiction.
About this edition
Blackthorne is modelled on the real pilot William Adams and the warlord Toranaga on Tokugawa Ieyasu, though the novel is fiction and takes the liberties of one. Clavell (1924-1994) was held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese at Changi during the Second World War. Shōgun is the chronologically earliest of his six Asian Saga novels and sold in the millions; print editions run roughly 1,100-1,200 pages.
Connections
- James Clavell — the author.
- Literature
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.