China plays a bigger role in geopolitical affairs every year, and since my knowledge of Chinese history is pretty out of date I thought I’d pick up this book.
If any country needs a short version of history, it should be this one. Even in this relatively short book I often got confused by all the names of emperors, heroes, villains – all of which came in and out of history’s favor over the long history of China.
But despite this I really enjoyed the read. The writer had a tough job to distill the episodes that had a significant historical impact, and include the histories that are echoing into today. It was written in a style that is easy to read, with clear attributions and what I felt was a neutral approach.
The author is a big fan of Chinese culture. She took an open-minded approach and avoided including any agenda (from whatever source) and tried to report as much as possible about what actually happened. In this case it illustrated why it is important to think about a country as more than just its government.
Next I am reading The Creative Act by Rick Rubin.
