A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations

by Conrad Schirokauer, Miranda Brown, David Lurie

This compelling text explores the development of China and Japan through their art, religion, literature, and thought as well as through their economic, political, and social history. The author team combines strong research with extensive classroom teaching experience to offer a clear, consistent, and highly readable text that is accessible to students with no previous knowledge of the history of East Asia.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Japan, China, Asia, Japanese Literature, Textbooks

736 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1978

Reviews

[Abraham]

A good overview of Japanese and Chinese history

[Ian]

good

[Austin Thompson-Davoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book, although it does kind of overwhelm you with dozens of historical figures, most of whom you will probably forget by the time you get to the next chapter. The emphasis on cultural elements was really interesting, and provided a good jumping-off point to learn more about Chinese and Japanese painting and poetry. It is quite out-of-date, however - this isn't a problem for the vast majority of the text, but there are some areas (early human groups, and China under the CCP) where a lot has been learned since this book was published.

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 2 out of 5]

En grund översikt, som dock har fördelen att den har ett väldigt allsidigt perspektiv.

[Ritsumei · Rating 1 out of 5]

We had to read this thing in college; it is a fantastic example of all that is wrong with a textbook: devoid of any literary value, it's incredibly dry. Added to that is the way that it sabotaged the student: years after I was done with college, I dug it out to learn about a particular Chinese emperor, mentioned in other reading I was enjoying at the time. I realized then why it had been so difficult to follow in school: in addition to all the names of people and places being entirely new, Chinese emperors have 3 names: one they use prior to ascending the throne, one they use during their reign, and one they are given posthumously. This book used all three in a single paragraph, without any explanation: no wonder I had such a hard time following it in school! Asian history is fascinating; choose a book that tells the story well, remember that textbooks are terrible, and steer clear of this thing. In the end, I didn't even donate or sell it: I threw it away.

[Matt Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read most of this for a class (up to 1945). Verbose.

[Alys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I use it as a starting point to identify a time or incident, then use other source materials for research. It is brief, after all.