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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced
It’s hard to put 400 years of history as rich as that of China’s into one book, but Spence did a spectacular job. I found myself looking up events that were only fleetingly referenced that need their own books to truly tell the full story, but such is the restraint of a general history. Learning about the collapse of the last dynasty and the several decades long revolution that culminated in the establishment of the CCP and the People’s Republic was thrilling, while learning about industrial output and how art changed was a bit more dull. Still, what an achievement!
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
The ascent of contemporary China in some thirty years has fascinated and bewildered many, especially as the nation belies all western/modern ideas of the enlightenment, such as Individual Freedom, Representative Democracy. Onlookers from more liberal nations struggle to make sense of this rise that challenges the basic foundations of liberal democracies. From that perspective, Spence's book (which stops shortly after Tiananmen Square Massacre) offers some explanation behind the Sinic love for order and bureaucracy, and their justifiable umbrage at the western world.
Spence's greatest success here is how he plausibly showcases precedents for their cycles of revolutions, suppression of revolutions, further successful revolutions, reforms and further tightening of bureaucracy that forms the basis of his running theme: the Chinese may be rich and industrialized, but can only be modern if they extricate themselves from the vicious cycle of revolution and tyranny.
Spence's greatest success here is how he plausibly showcases precedents for their cycles of revolutions, suppression of revolutions, further successful revolutions, reforms and further tightening of bureaucracy that forms the basis of his running theme: the Chinese may be rich and industrialized, but can only be modern if they extricate themselves from the vicious cycle of revolution and tyranny.
This was an absolute Magnum Opus on the last few hundred years of Chinese history. Often when a book tries to cover something this complex it either oversimplifies or becomes too complex to follow. Spence both provides incredible detail and the requisite context to never be lost in the weeds. On top of that the writing style is easy, yet clearly academic. I couldn’t recommend this enough.
adventurous
informative
fast-paced
I took one star off for this particular format. I recommend the hardback copy. The audio version is disconcerting due to two main issues: 1) the narrator's upper crust British accent is rather ironic given that this is a book about abuses of imperialistic power and 2) the transfer from CD to audio files was sloppy leaving cuts in mid thought and even mid sentence. That said, this book trots along at a brisk and efficient pace through the end of the Ming to modern day. A terrific overview. Delightfully, much is documented with hard facts and figures.
Really informative history of why modern China came to be. I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to understand more!
informative
slow-paced
It is very long, very detailed and ends just before modern China gets really interesting after 1989.