Garon awarded NEH fellowship for work on new book

By Ruth Stevens on May 15, 2005, 6:42 p.m.

Sheldon Garon, professor of history and East Asian studies, has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for 2005-06 to support his work on a new book.

Garon, a historian of modern Japan with comparative interests in European, American and Asian history, has titled the book "Fashioning Cultures of Thrift: Promoting Saving in Japan and the World."

The volume will be a comparative history of various governments' efforts to encourage saving among their citizens. Comparing Japan with the United States and several European and Asian nations, Garon argues that with their high rates of saving and cautious approach to consumption, continental European countries have much in common with Japan and South Korea -- and that it is the Americans who are exceptional. 

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