With all the adventure, derring-do, and bloodcurdling battle scenes of his earlier book, Nathaniel's Nutmeg, acclaimed historian Giles Milton dazzles readers with the true story of William Adams--the first Englishman to set foot in Japan (and the inspiration for James Clavell's bestselling novel Shogun). Beginning with Adams's startling letter to the East India Company in 1611--more than a decade after he'd arrived in Japan--Samurai William chronicles the first foray by the West
into that mysterious closed-off land. Drawing upon the journals and letters of Adams as well as the other Englishmen who came looking for him, Samurai William presents a unique glimpse of Japan before it once again closed itself off from the world
for another two hundred years.