One of the leading historians of the Song period offers an empirically rich and well-informed book that is especially good on material culture and the history of technology. Kuhn offers strong overviews of the transformation of the capital cities, education and examination, commerce, and the Song fiscal system, as well as lively discussions of religious beliefs, the study of natural phenomena, and private life in the public sphere. For readers who want an in-depth look at mid-imperial Chinese history and culture, Dieter Kuhn's Age of Confucian Rule promises to become the book of choice.
   --Paul Jakov Smith, Haverford College

Dieter Kuhn is Professor and Chair of Chinese Studies, University of Würzburg.

Timothy Brook is Principal at St. John's College, University of British Columbia.

Read More by Timothy Brook:

• Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China
• National Polity and Local Power: The Transformation of Late Imperial China
• The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han
• Collaboration: Japanese Agents and Local Elites in Wartime China
• China between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties
• China's Last Empire: The Great Qing
• Death by a Thousand Cuts
• China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty