"[A] spirited and highly intelligent book... A splendid reflection on the nature of the Chinese relationship to history, culture, and morality... What gives Wills's [book] its originality and its effectiveness is the artful span of examples he has chosen, examples that not only range across time ... but are also chosen to illuminate major themes and continuities within the Chinese ... Read moreuniverse... There is high drama, cruelty, and excess in many of these stories... And there is also wit and charm mixed with the telling of great events."
Jonathan Spence, The New York Times Book Review "[T]his remarkable book ... spans the 3,000 recorded years of Chinese history... We experience the wrenching difficulties faced by ... each emperor, philosopher, poet, historian, monk, military general, and revolutionary whose life story is told here with such skill and compassion... students of history will find themselves clinging to the edge of their seats, as if the outcome were still to be determined."
Wilson Library Bulletin "A tapestry displaying a vast array of noble dreams and failures, of initial utterances and long-distance echoes, of recurrent patterns and abrupt innovations intended to intrigue and inform educated readers looking for a way into three thousand years of Chinese history."
Jerry Dennerline, The Journal of Asian Studies "This book ... chronicles 5,000 years of Chinese history in short biographies of its most important figures... Time and again these vignettes of history reflect the moral earnestness of the Chinese and individual struggles between villainy and idealism."
Asia Week "Although intended for the inspired tourist or casual reader who wants a quick introduction to Chinese history, this collection of biographies is in no way superficial. Each of the 20 chapters offers a figure typical of his/her times and an elaboration of the contexts and backgrounds that shaped these individuals."
Library Journal "Tremendous."
Aaron Pickering, Education About Asia Show Less