Thomas D. Conlan is Professor of Japanese History in the East Asian Studies and History Departments at Princeton University. His research focuses on medieval Japanese culture, war, law, religion, and society. He has also written widely about samurai (warrior) culture in Japan, and the Mongol invasions, as well as the political significance of religious rituals. His publications include Samurai and the Warrior Culture of Japan, 471-1877, From Sovereign to Symbol, Samurai Weapons and Fighting Techniques, 1200-1877, State of War: The Violent Order of Fourteenth-Century Japan, and In Little Need of Divine Intervention.