Synopses & Reviews
Learning to Bow has been heralded as one of the funniest, liveliest, and most insightful books ever written about the clash of cultures between America and Japan. With warmth and candor, Bruce Feiler recounts the year he spent as a teacher in a small rural town. Beginning with a ritual outdoor bath and culminating in an all-night trek to the top of Mt. Fuji, Feiler teaches his students about American culture, while they teach him everything from how to properly address an envelope to how to date a Japanese girl.
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“As fascinating an account of Japanese life as you could find anywhere…Dont miss this one.” Grand Rapids Press
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“A refreshingly original look at Japan…this book is a revelation.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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“A charming and incisive close-up of the most important part of the Japanese miracle- the making of a Japanese.” Robert Elegant, author of Pacific Destiny
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“Mark Salzman fans and other aficionados of things Eastern will love…Bruce Feilers Learning to Bow.” Elle
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“Always fascinating and often funny…one of those rare books that shows the Japanese as fully rounded human beings.” Washington Post
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“Gems of insight and understanding.” Rocky Mountain News
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“Filled with rich anecdotes that tell far more than dry, academic tomes on the same subject.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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“A hilarious and revealing book [that] marks the debut of a formidable talent.” James Fallows, Washington Editor of Atlantic Monthly
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“An engaging book, Learning to Bow earns higher marks than the usual scholarly analysis.” Business Tokyo
About the Author
Bruce Feiler is the New York Times bestselling author of Walking the Bible, Learning to Bow, Looking for Class, and Under the Big Top. A frequent contributor to NPR's All Things Considered, and contributing editor for Gourmet he writes regularly about American music for The New York Times, The New Yorker, and other publications, and recieved international acclaim for his influential cover story in The New Republic, "Gone Country." A native of Savannah, Georgia, Mr. Feiler is a graduate of Yale and Cambridge Universities, and now divides his time between Nashville and New York.