SOURCE: A review of The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 10, No. 2, September, 1947, pp. 237-41.

In the following review, Bowles discusses Benedict's observations and analyses in The Chrysanthemum and the Sword.

It is difficult to judge fairly the merits and demerits of a descriptive analytical study when the author lacks firsthand acquaintance with his source material. In the present instance, the author has sought to meet the handicap by a threefold program of extensive reading, the generous use of well-qualified informants, and the employment of modern techniques of critical analysis. She has also attempted to turn this handicap into an advantage by using the data as a demonstration of what a trained observer can do with secondhand data at long range.

The reader cannot help being impressed by the orderly manner in which the data have been assembled and by the incisive phrasing...