108: Amy Stanley Would Rather Be Writing

When historian of early modern Japan Dr. Amy Stanley came upon a letter written by a woman named Tsuneno while she was prepping a class lesson in primary sources, she knew she had found a great story. The challenge was how to tell it, even through gaps in the archive—not to mention the challenges of writing while raising two small boys The result, Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and Her World, is an extraordinary biography that went on to win multiple national awards and demonstrate that compelling trade history can be about something other than war or famous white men. Amy Stanley, professor of history at Northwestern University, joins Kate Carpenter to talk about her research and writing process and give some practical advice for revision, bringing lost places to life, and more.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Amy Stanley, Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and Her World
• Amy Stanley, Selling Women: Prostitution, Markets, and the Household in Early Modern Japan
• Niigata Prefectural Archive
• Amy Stanley, “Revisiting the ‘Comfort Girls’ of Report 49,” American Historical Review 130, no. 4 (December 2025), 1459-1483