A Brief History of Chinese Civilization

by Conrad Schirokauer, Miranda Brown

With a design inviting to today's students, this full-color concise book emphasizes Chinese cultural history while also covering political and economic history. Highlighting key topics with 89 illustrations, including maps, timelines, and other photos, this text provides brief, yet complete coverage of each major Chinese dynasty. To round off the book, additional discrete periods are examined in a separate chapter. New co-author, Miranda Brown covers the first three chapters, "China in Antiquity," "Turbulent Times in Classical Thought," and "The Early Imperial Period," while Conrad Schirokauer writes the balance of the text. This text also addresses recent developments in China, up to and including the massacre at Tiananmen Square, Foreign Relations and Hong Kong and Intellectuals and Artists in the Nineties and Into the New Century.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, China, Asia, Textbooks

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned so much about Chinese history quickly with this book. I read it after reading China, Edward Rutherfurd's novel to see how accurate the story held to the facts. I was pleasantly surprised how easy a read this was and how closely it aligned with Mr Rutherfurd's telling.

I will re-read this book as it has given me a clear perspective to China's motives and political view of the West.

[Chris J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plenty of information in here that is not all that interesting to the average reader who is merely looking to increase his/her general understanding of Chinese history. I would suggest some other work over this one.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0

A well-written book about Chinese history across dynasties. Maybe this is because the book was so short, but one gets the feeling that some of the perspectives/opinions expressed throughout are somewhat Western or otherwise limited.

[Eduardo Sánchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buen libro para aproximarse a la historia de China hasta finales del siglo XX.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good brief introduction to Chinese history from the Stone Age (neo-lithic) to 20th century. Focus on political, intellectual and economic histories but also cover cultures and arts. Useful timelines and maps.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very well written and approachable, but the way it goes through the historical events and then backtracks to revisit the cultural elements is jarring.

[Ioana]

interesting and succinct.. I'm not a big history book reader but it seems
well done