Peter B. E. Hill
The Japanese Mafia
Yakuza, Law and the State
Oxford UP, 2003
What's inside?
Methodical examination of Japan's 'yakuza' (mafia) and recent legal efforts to control it.
Recommendation
This scholarly work examines the nature of organized crime in great depth and details the evolution of Japan's mafia, called the yakuza, and the challenges confronting it in the 21st century. Although Peter B.E. Hill’s style is rigorously academic, the nature of the material itself is so sensational that the book is at times a thrilling read. It offers a glimpse of the underside of Japanese government and society, and reveals historical facts likely to shock the average non-Japanese reader. getAbstract finds that this book will, of course, interest readers who are professionally concerned with crime, sociology, economics, Japanese studies and the like. However, it may also appeal to fans of true crime stories and hard-boiled fiction – a rare attribute for an academic book.
Summary
About the Author
Peter B. E. Hill is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in sociology at the University of Oxford.
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