A Biography of Cao Cao
Rafe de Crespigny is an Australian sinologist, now aged 90. He specialises in the history of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. His…
Excellent essays – Sahibs Who Loved India
Sahibs Who Loved India is a set of essays commissioned by Khushwant Singh when he was the editor of Illustrated Weekly of India. KS had…
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A useful book – The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer’s Iliad and the Trojan War
Iliad ended with King Priam retrieving the body of his beloved son Hector from Achilles and the subsequent burial ceremony inside Troy. The subsequent well…
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Excellent book – Pearl Harbor: The Verdict of History
This is not a book on the attack on Pearl Harbour. Rather it examines Americans’ responsibility for the successful attack by the Japanese. It examines…
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Excellent legal drama – Denial
This gripping legal case is based on the book My day in court with David Irving: History on Trial by US author professor Deborah E.…
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Coffee table book – China, the Long March
This is a wonderful coffee table book published in 1986 for the 50th anniversary of the Long March. Renowned photographers foreign and Chinese retraced the…
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A brief book – Churchill’s Final Farewell: The State and Private Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill
I won’t call this an illustrated book. It is a text with some pictures. The merit of this book is that it is the only…
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Biography – The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China
The absence of a bibliography is a serious defect in this hardcover edition published by Harvard University Press. It is a pity as Jay Taylor…
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A historical record – Heaven is High, the Emperor Far Away: Merchants and Mandarins in Old Canton
I read this book for my sojourn to Canton, Zhuhai via Macau from 2 to 6 Nov 2019. The city of Canton is nowadays seen…
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A myth – Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China
As of May 2009, this is still the latest substantial biography on the Empress Dowager. Sterling Seagrave in this very thoroughly researched biography of the…
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Too brief – London: A Short History
This is a slim book, about 150 pages. Wilson is a prolific writer. However, this is not an easy history of London to read. It…
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