Reviewed by Alice DiNizo for Readers' Favorite

Author Jack Jon has taken the tumultuous last years of the shogun empire in Japan and created a novel that students of world history will love. He creates fictional Nelson Harding, son of a New England whale ship captain, who goes to Japan, sailing on the Kanrin-maru, to help create a navy which Japan desperately needs since Commodore Perry sailed into Japan's Edo Bay. Nelson's childhood sweetheart Violet has married someone else and Nelson feels that going off to organize a Japanese navy will help heal his broken heart. Nelson Harding intermingles with real heroes from Japanese history such as the fearless Sakamoto who leads the fight against the many shogun rulers, Yamamoto who will play an important role in twentieth century Japan and the unmovable, powerful shogun Keiki. Nelson is frequently arrested and often attacked as violence runs throughout the story which faithfully recounts the awfulness of the fight to unite Japan under the emperor and to put a stop to the shoguns' control of the country. Nelson Harding keeps trying to resign and return to Violet, but his resignation is never accepted and he spends eight years in the country that becomes "Land of the Rising Sun". And Commodore Perry's naval hat becomes a fixture on the head of more than one hero in this engrossing story. Read and find out!

"The Commodore's hat and His Majesty" recounts accurately the horrific battles all over Japan that took place when the shoguns' rule of that nation was ending. The author's use of the character Nelson Harding is well-woven into the accounts of those dark and difficult years. Historical figures like Sakamoto come alive, so much so that when Sakamoto is killed, the reader will grieve at this huge loss. The writing style is appealing, drawing the reader into the story. "The Commodore's Hat and His Majesty" should be a permanent fixture on lists of good historic fiction to be read, for it covers a time and place not covered enough in the pages of history.