"Harry Miller provides an essential and authoritative account of the last quarter of the Ming Dynasty, blending political, social, and intellectual history. Writing with clarity and concision, he touches on a wide range of issues and frequently offers novel interpretations. By bringing together a sequence of political events, and analyzing them from the perspective of factionalism that was informed by ... Read morephilosophical differences, Miller has produced a truly innovative unifying overview of late Ming history." - Edward L. Farmer, University of Minnesota"Harry Miller has given us a dramatic new way of looking at the late Ming, placing himself in the front rank of a generation of new and innovative scholars such as Nimmick, Robinson, Marme, and Swope. He brings a revisionist view that focuses on the necessity of looking throguh Confucian rhetoric to the vicious power struggles that lay beneath the surface of the ideological battles. This is a tightly argued book with a clear and accessible interpretation." - Murray A. Rubinstein, Baruch College Show Less