Cowboy Dust and Samurai Snow (free sample)

Synopsis

The 1870s: the Arizona wilderness and the virgin forests of Hokkaido. On two distant frontiers, nations sent people into the wild to turn lines on a map into real territory. The book sets America's westward expansion under Manifest Destiny beside Meiji Japan, which sent tondenhei soldier-settlers and convicts north against the Russian advance, and examines the price paid by the Apache and the Ainu, the failure of imported frontier theories, and the tragedy of the convict roads. Woven with the stories of Kenzo, a former samurai who faces down a brown bear, and Jesse, a man attacked by a mountain lion, it is a historical epic that brings to light the countless people buried beneath the prosperity of two empires.

✍️ The book was originally written in English. This sample is the Japanese translation, and we hope it carries the same feel.