Black Ships to Mushroom Clouds: A Story of Japan's Stormy Century 1853-1945

The arrival of Commodore Perry's four black ships rudely awakened Japan from centuries of slumber and isolation. The Japanese soon realized their feudal system needed to lay a foundation for a modern military. Japan's shortages of tin, steel, rubber and oil eventually led to WWII, culminating in the atomic bomb at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.