China - A Dark History: From Ancient Dynasties to the Communist Party

by Michael Kerrigan

From the slaves used to build the Great Wall to the Tiananmen Square protests, China - A Dark History takes an expert sweep across more than 2000 years of Chinese history. Today China is emerging to become the world's largest economy. This might seem a surprise if one only thinks of the 20th century, but not if one looks at the long history of this vast, cultured and well organised country. It is the world's most populous country, but has suffered immense disasters through earthquakes, floods and man- made famines. It may be one of the oldest civilizations, but has endured numerous invasions, from the Mongols in the 13th century to the Japanese in the 20th century. It has suffered punitive trade wars and treaties with the West. And in just over a century it has moved from a monarchy to a nationalist republic, and from communism to state capitalism. China is both one of the cradles of civilization and, at times, the place of mass executions. It has alternated between periods of unity and peace, and periods of war or failed statehood. Nor can it be said that its cultural achievements were developed only during times of peace. Many of China's notable contributions to literature, philosophy and culture were born during some of its most unsettled periods. Packed with 180 colour and black-&-white artworks and photographs, China - A Dark History is a fascinating journey from the ancient world to the modern, imperial dynasties to the Gang of Four, from trade wars to world war to civil war, from earthquakes to floods, and from famine to the Great Firewall.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, China

224 pages, Hardcover

Published November 14, 2019

About the author

Michael Kerrigan is a seasoned freelance writer and editor with over thirty years of experience across a wide spectrum of publishing work, from advertising and catalogue copy to book blurbs and specialist nonfiction. A prolific author, he has written around sixty full-length books on subjects ranging from ancient warfare and Slavic myth to modern architecture and the science of consciousness, all aimed at a general readership. He contributed a weekly Books in Brief column to The Scotsman for two decades and has reviewed extensively for the Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian, and Financial Times.

Reviews

[Galaxial · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written and well-researched, and interesting for a history book...
Unfortunately there are a couple things wrong with it. But first of all: there was a lot of good here too
-The book is very easy to read. It's not dense and is easily readable in a couple of hours, and Kerrigan has a very direct, fascinating writing style that is seriously lacking in many history books.
-The book is well-researched. Incredibly so. There was nothing to doubt here and the author's knowledge of his topic is prevalent from the first page.
-The book did not feel biased. Often in this case, especially when dealing with Communism and horrible, ruthless rulers, there is a tendency of an author to bias. Kerrigan deals with that very well here. He calls out evil where evil is due, whichever side of the political spectrum it's on, and while he doesn't linger on the details of the atrocities against the Chinese people, he makes them very clear and doesn't just rush over them.
-The book is well-constructed. Kerrigan's writing style is enjoyable, and the amount of pictures figures nicely with the amount of text, and Kerrigan offers a large selection of asides from the main body of the text which offer great interest if you're bored of reading people constantly murdering each other.
Now unfortunately there were a few things wrong with the book.
-The focus of the book was very defined, which, I suppose, to some people, would be welcome. Kerrigan spends about 95% of the time on the politics of China, which for some would be enjoyable. But for a book about China's history this leaves out the other 99% of the population during these years. Even some asides about how people lived, the culture, the language evolution, would've been lovely. But there's nothing. Every page there's a new emperor and a new threat to China. But nothing about the actual people living there.
-Kerrigan doesn't reinforce anything he says. Seeing that he's covering over three thousand years of Chinese history, the amount of rulers and emperors, leaders, and court officials he talks about is unbelievable...and even though I finished reading it yesterday, I don't remember any of them except Mao, which I guess it a start.
So unfortunately while this is a great resource, and is a short, easy read, don't expect to learn much of anything from it unless you have a photographic memory. Good book, well-written, but it felt unnecessarily rushed and without an intent to actually teach people.

[Sierra Beightel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning even a little about the start of China as far back as the 15th century. I have heard of the newer dynasties, Mao and the Cultural Revolution, but not anything earlier. Personally, I found it pretty similar to a textbook, finding hard to stay focused on certain parts. Otherwise, I thought it was a great book. The author wrote the book with less bias than Modern China textbooks for school.
The author also well represented the Chinese people who didn’t agree with what the leaders were doing because of how awfully they were treated for centuries and dynasties. The Chinese people are still suffering today in awful conditions.

[Sarah Faichney · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a self-confessed sinophile, I simply had to read Michael Kerrigan's China. On further investigation, I was staggered by the volume of this author's body of work and as a result my burgeoning TBR pile has grown considerably. This is a writer I am incredibly excited to have discovered, and I'm kicking myself that I didn't know about him sooner. "China: A Dark History" is accessible to non-academics like me. Beautifully presented and laid out, the content is highly informative and fascinating. I adored this book and will certainly be displaying it among the favourites section on my bookcase. 

[Ross Heinricy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy read and revelatory about the murderous history of the most ancient of civilizations. A key thought given in this book is "the more things change in China, the more they stay the same". They seem to be a very fertile people seeing how many have died from wars, famines, floods, labor deaths, revolutions, etc. In 1970 they numbered 820 million - unreal! Lots of pictures and basically read like a Time magazine hardbound historical record of the history of China.

[Tony · Rating 2 out of 5]

China’s history is rather morbid, with genocides and murders on seemingly every page.