Alan Booth (1946-1993) is recognized today as one of the finest expatriate writers on Japan. His travel books, The Roads to Sata (1985), and the posthumously published Looking for the Lost (1995), are considered classics of commentary on modern Japanese culture and society. Booth was also the author of some extraordinarily perceptive journalism. This book consists of a rich selection of reviews and articles he wrote for magazines and newspapers in Japan, its topics covering Japanese film, festivals, and folk-songs. It is a remarkable volume, written with keen insight and a wickedly wry humor–a work any Japanophile will appreciate.

This Great Stage of Fools, carefully edited by Booth’s friend and one-time editor Timothy Harris, includes a foreword by Harris and an afterword by Karel van Wolferen.

324 pages • Soft cover