Brings together scholarly writings on Japanese early state formation that are brought together so that successive topics form a coherent overview of the problems and solutions of ancient Japan. The writings differ from the majority of other articles on the subject in being anthropological rather than cultural or historical in nature.

The first systematic attempt to introduce a full range of Japanese scholarship on the agrarian history of British India to the English-language reader. Suggests the fundamental importance of an Asian comparative perspective for the understanding of Indian history.