Selected Titles on
The History and Politics of China
Emperor Huizong
“Long depicted as a feckless ruler who brought about the downfall of the Northern Song, Huizong emerges in this magisterial study as an emperor fully in control of the world around him and dedicated to perfecting the art of rule. Historians of China will admire how Ebrey’s forensic approach replaces one-sided myths about Huizong’s rule with a comprehensive picture of emperor-centered court life. Above all, Ebrey tells a riveting story; her portrayal has all the power of a great novel. This book is quite simply superb.”—Paul Jakov Smith, Haverford College
East Asian Development: Foundations and Strategies
“A remarkable tour de force. Drawing upon a wealth of knowledge and experience accumulated through close engagement with East Asia during an extraordinarily eventful half century, Dwight Perkins presents a panoramic overview of the region’s economic transformation from the 1950s onwards. His brisk, lucid, and finely textured account of rapid progress in some countries and mixed outcomes in others is a must read. Students seeking to understand East Asia’s remarkable economic performance will find this a highly readable one-stop volume; experts will be amply rewarded by the author’s many penetrating insights into the political economy of policymaking and its implementation in the East Asian context.”—Shahid Yusuf, George Washington University
Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China
2012 Lionel Gelber Prize, Lionel Gelber Foundation, Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, and Foreign Policy • Honorable Mention, 2012 Bernard Schwartz Book Award, Asia Society • An Esquire China Book of the Year, 2012 • A Gates Notes Top Read of 2012 • Finalist, 2011 National Book Critics Circle Awards, Biography Category • Honorable Mention, 2011 Association of American Publishers PROSE Award, European and World History Category • An Economist Best Book of 2011 • A Financial Times Best Book of 2011 • A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, 2011 • A Wall Street Journal Book of the Year, 2011 • A Washington Post Best Book of 2011
“A masterful new history of China’s reform era. It pieces together from interviews and memoirs perhaps the clearest account so far of the revolution that turned China from a totalitarian backwater led by one of the monsters of the 20th century into the power it has become today… Vogel has a monumental story to tell. His main argument is that Deng deserves a central place in the pantheon of 20th-century leaders. For he not only launched China’s market-oriented economic reforms but also accomplished something that had eluded Chinese leaders for almost two centuries: the transformation of the world’s oldest civilization into a modern nation… [An] illuminating book.”
—John Pomfret, The Washington Post
The Lius of Shanghai
“Liu Hongsheng (1888–1956) was a prosperous Shanghai industrialist whose household exemplified the traditional Confucian family’s transition into modernity. Cochran discovered a trove of letters that span the 1920s to the 1950s, as family members pursued education, marriage, and business prospects all over China and in Japan and the West. He and his co-author provide historical context and sensitive cultural and psychological interpretations but allow most of the story to come out in the family’s…honest and moving words… [A] fascinating saga.”
—Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign Affairs
Lu Xun’s Revolution: Writing in a Time of Violence
“For those who would like to find out about Lu Xun there is plenty of information in this copious literary and political biography… Lu Xun’s Revolution is a formidable book.”—Jonathan Mirsky, Literary Review
“In Lu Xun’s Revolution, Davies has created a fascinating account of the final years of the writer’s life and the beginning of his literary afterlife.”—Julia Lovell, The Wall Street Journal
Chinese History: A New Manual
“[A] thoroughly revised and updated edition of eminent Chinese history expert Dr. Endymion Wilkinson’s classic text… An important reference text for anyone wanting to understand how China became what it is today—and where it might be headed.”—William Yeoman, The West Australian
No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems
A Wall Street Journal Book of the Year, 2011
“Freedom of expression may be irritating to some, but its absence is harmful to all. Without the freedom of expression there can be no lasting progress because without critical voices in the society there is no protection against error and abuse in the exercise of power. Liu Xiaobo is paying a harsh price for speaking out. I invite you to read his work, as a tribute to his courage, and as an inspiration for your own.”—Thorbjørn Jagland, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee
The Rise of China vs. the Logic of Strategy
A Mint Best Book of 2012
“With muscular behavior and rhetoric on the uptick and China pouring money into its military, political strategists have begun to consider Chinese military dominance of the Pacific and a concurrent American decline as foregone conclusions. So it is refreshing to see Edward Luttwak take a different tack in The Rise of China vs. the Logic of Strategy and argue that Chinese military dominance in the Pacific is ‘the least likely of outcomes.’ China can’t simultaneously enjoy a burgeoning economy and a rapidly growing military, he contends, because countries will band together to protect themselves, using military coalitions and trade protectionism to counter China’s rise.”
—Mary Kissel, The Wall Street Journal
Capitalism from Below: Markets and Institutional Change in China
2013 George R. Terry Book Award, Academy of Management • Gold Medal, International Business/Globalization Category, 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards, Jenkins Group/Independent Publisher Online • A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 2012
“[Nee and Opper’s] main point is that the Chinese market economy was created not from above, by the state, but from below, by entrepreneurs. The state came in later, to legitimize and regulate the institutions that the economic actors created. This is not a new idea, but Nee and Opper’s extensive interviews with entrepreneurs in the Yangtze Delta region give a detailed picture of how it happened… Nee and Opper…argue that success in the private sector is ‘increasingly independent of the direct involvement of politicians.’ Rather, it comes from building a reputation for trustworthiness among networks of business peers.”—Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign Affairs
History of Imperial China
This six-volume series traces the history of Imperial China from the beginnings of unification under the Qin emperor in the third century B.C.E. to the end of the Qing dynasty in the early twentieth century. Each book—written in an accessible, straightforward style by a single author—covers a broad range of topics at a concise length and is grounded in the latest scholarship. Maps and illustrations enhance the reading experience. An essential series for everyone interested in Chinese history and culture.
- Volume 1. The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han, by Mark Edward Lewis
- Volume 2. China between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties, by Mark Edward Lewis
- Volume 3. China’s Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty, by Mark Edward Lewis
- Volume 4. The Age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China, by Dieter Kuhn
- Volume 5. The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, by Timothy Brook
- Volume 6. China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing, by William T. Rowe
