Engineers are a key occupational group in the transformation of the modern world. Contrasts between Japans economic miracle and Britains relative economic decline have often been linked to differences in education, training and employment of engineers. Yet, such views have often rested on little more than colourful anecdotes and selective statistics. Using careful and systematic comparisons, Kevin McCormick locates the differences between rhetoric and reality to dismiss both the inflated claims of the 1980s and the excessive detraction of the 1990s with Japans prolonged recession.