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Title: The Opium War, 1840-1842: Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century and the War by Which They Forced Her Gates Ajar by Peter Ward Fay ISBN: 0-8078-4714-3 Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr Pub. Date: March, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An epic and fascinating read
Comment: While there are regrettably few definitive one-volume accounts of the imperialist foreign rape of China (and anyone seeking a balanced and fair account is forced by this dearth of material to digest the information contained across vastly differing accounts from both the Chinese and foreign side), Fay's study is easily one of the most engaging. It is not a dry history, nor a polemic. It is beautiful, fresh and literary writing that reads like a novel, packed with ground-level observations, much gathered from the journals of the Western participants themselves. Fay also does a better job than many others in dissecting the psychologies behind the politics and clashing cultures. Fay also succeeds by never straying from the bottom line: the opium and opium trafficking.
Rating: 5
Summary: Authoritative and Elegant
Comment: Nearly three decades after it was first published, Fay's book remains the best single volume on the Opium War, and one of the best books on China in the 19th century. It is easy to read, but is scholarly enough for the most fastidious. Unlike the other reviewer I had no particular difficulties with the timeline, although that can be a problem with any historical narrative. Be advised that this is a narrative history and can be read with joy by those who find social or economic histories tedious, but the background of the war is covered in particular detail as well. Fay is not a professional sinologist, and came to this book through his studies of the East India Company, but the book seems none the worse for his wide knowledge. It was recommended to me by some very distinguished historians of China, and their enthusiasm was justified. It is not a weighty tome, like those of Mary Wright or Vincent Shih on China in the 19th century, but it is authoritative on its subject, and like the best of Fairbank, it is great fun to read. Can one say better things about a book? If you are interested in the Opium War, Qin dynasty history, imperialism, or just like reading a good narrative about a war, please indulge yourself-- and read this book.
Rating: 3
Summary: This is one of the most frustrating books I've ever read.
Comment: Peter Fay's book on the Opium War is one of the most detailed studies of the period between 1838-1842 one can find at anything like the price, and would be a valuable resource except for one major flaw--there is no time-line given, and dates are provided, at most, with day and month, not year. This may seem like an insignificant thing, but given that correspondence took at least six months in one direction from China to England, and that the war was taking place with sailing ships up and down most of China's coast, it quickly becomes impossible to tell, either from the footnotes or the text, what year precisely specific events happened. Since so few dates are given at all, it is impossible to get a good sense of the exact sequence of events, particularly as the fighting part of the war heated up. When the book is next released, it should have a time line!
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Title: The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes. by Arthur Waley ISBN: 0804706115 Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr Pub. Date: September, 1979 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Chinese Opium Wars by Jack Beeching ISBN: 0156170949 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 06 April, 1977 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another by William Travis Hanes, Frank Sanello ISBN: 1570719314 Publisher: Sourcebooks Trade Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Foreign Mud: Being an Account of the Opium Imbroglio at Canton in the 1830's and the Anglo-Chinese War That Followed (New Directions Classics,) by Maurice Collis ISBN: 0811215067 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan by Jonathan D. Spence ISBN: 0393315568 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: January, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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