Andrew Gordon

Who is Andrew Gordon?

Andrew Gordon is a prominent scholar of modern Japanese history. He is Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Professor of History at Harvard University and former chair of the Department of History there from 2004–2007. He was Director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies from 1998 through 2004.

Andrew Gordon completed his PhD in History and East Asian Languages at Harvard University in 1981. Following the completion of his graduate studies he has taught history at both Duke University and at Harvard. He is one of the leading experts on Japanese labor history but has lately shifted to other fields. Gordon's 2003 history of modern Japan is now one of the standard textbooks on the topic and has been translated into Japanese. A revised edition of the work was released in 2009. Gordon has more recently been engaged in research on the history of the sewing machine and the making of the modern consumer in 20th century Japan.