Skilled, ambitious, mightily impressive ... Harding turns out to be as adept at describing the country's artistic development as he is at unpicking its brutal politics. Another of his talents is a sharp eye for the telling quote that makes these distant presences tangible ... a marvellous read, full of startling information. Waldemar Januszczak Sunday Times
Christopher Harding is the author of the widely praised Japan Story: In Search of a Nation - described by Neil MacGregor as 'Masterly. How much I admired it, what a lot I learned from it and, above all, how very much I enjoyed it' - and The Japanese. Harding teaches at the University of Edinburgh and frequently broadcasts on Radio 3 and Radio 4.