4.5 stars. Super interesting, well documented account of Yasuke, a 16th century African who, through slavery, traveled to Japan with Portuguese Catholic missionaries, and eventually became a samurai. The text refers to primary source documents both from the Portuguese and the Japanese. When the authors speculate, they make this clear to the reader. ("He almost certainly would have..." Etc.) The final chapter discusses the end of the historical record on Yasuke and presents a few options for what he might have done after what is known, and ends with a survey of the speculative literature Yasuke's story has inspired. As is pointed out in the book, Yasuke's life certainly held its share of trauma. But the overall trajectory of his story, at least as it is known to us, is powerful and hopeful. This is a story that deserves to be more widely known.