“Opportunity for high office is a matter of fate” -Tseng Kuo Fan advising Li Hung Chang. (Page 21) Li was a son of a Chin-Shih…
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Month: August 2021
Introduction to Western specialists on China’s history (Part 3)
Jonathan Spence is the doyen. Formerly a Brit, now an American, his book output on China is prolific. One of his best is Treason by…
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Heaven’s Command
This 16-CD set is a gem. Buy it if it’s available for about 28 pounds. This set is based on the 1st volume of Jan…
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Introduction to Western specialists on China’s history (Part 2)
Jacques Gernet is a French sinophile. Long before the Americans, he had written highly acclaimed books on China’s history. Buddhism in Chinese Society was written…
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Introduction to Western specialists on China’s history (Part 1)
Joseph W Esherick is an expert on Chinese History. In Ancestral Leaves, he gives us a human history of China from the 14th century to…
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Afghanistan in the Age of Empires
Conquering Afghanistan is a mirage. (p 376). This book by Farrukh Husain (published in 2018) could not have been more accurate with the dramatic collapse…
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In search of Gandhi
The 1982 movie Gandhi was a phenomenal box-office success. It earned USD 128 million on a production cost of USD 22 million. (p 222). This…
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Mao: The Man Who Made China
This is arguably the best one-volume biography on Mao. Revised in 2017, Philip Short has written a very readable book backed up by tremendous research.…
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A Critical Introduction to Mao
This is not an introduction to Mao. It is a deep dive. In this 2010 book comprising 14 essays by 15 scholars the subjects covered…
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Mao
This slim 205-page book published in 1999 of Mao by Jonathan Spence is a very concise biography. It merely scratches the surface of a leader…
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