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A review by agriffin
Empress Dowager CIXI: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang
3.5
3.5/5
Overall, I found this to be a very thorough book on Empress Dowager Cixi's life. I think Chang offered up a lot of new perspectives, especially through personal diaries and letters of her contemporaries, that give her a depth and complexity largely missing from her narrative. As one of my favorite women in history, I greatly enjoyed this shift in her narrative. I would also like to commend Chang for the readability of this book. History can be very dry and monotonous but I find she truly made this flow like a story. I also loved the inclusion of paintings and photographs. It truly made her seem more human and relatable.
My two biggest criticisms fall in formatting and bias. In regards to formatting, I would have liked to see footnotes to sources. I realize that takes a lot of people out of the reading but I feel it's integral in establishing authority. Having something to refer back to, in my opinion, lends credibility as the reader can go and see sources to form their own opinion of the author's view. Which leads me to my biggest criticism, while engaging, this reads as extremely biased. Chang mentions the episodes of Empress Dowager Cixi's life that were not flattering but quickly and not very in depth. Further, there are minimal sources given from her critics. Here is where I think footnotes would come in handy. This way her interpretation could be critically looked at more easily.
Regardless of these complaints, this was a great read and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Modern China or Empress Dowager Cixi.
Overall, I found this to be a very thorough book on Empress Dowager Cixi's life. I think Chang offered up a lot of new perspectives, especially through personal diaries and letters of her contemporaries, that give her a depth and complexity largely missing from her narrative. As one of my favorite women in history, I greatly enjoyed this shift in her narrative. I would also like to commend Chang for the readability of this book. History can be very dry and monotonous but I find she truly made this flow like a story. I also loved the inclusion of paintings and photographs. It truly made her seem more human and relatable.
My two biggest criticisms fall in formatting and bias. In regards to formatting, I would have liked to see footnotes to sources. I realize that takes a lot of people out of the reading but I feel it's integral in establishing authority. Having something to refer back to, in my opinion, lends credibility as the reader can go and see sources to form their own opinion of the author's view. Which leads me to my biggest criticism, while engaging, this reads as extremely biased. Chang mentions the episodes of Empress Dowager Cixi's life that were not flattering but quickly and not very in depth. Further, there are minimal sources given from her critics. Here is where I think footnotes would come in handy. This way her interpretation could be critically looked at more easily.
Regardless of these complaints, this was a great read and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Modern China or Empress Dowager Cixi.