The Troubled Empire by Timothy Brook

The Troubled Empire by Timothy Brook

The Mongol takeover in the 1270s changed the course of Chinese history. The Confucian empire—a millennium and a half in the making—was suddenly thrust under foreign occupation. What China had been before its reunification as the Yuan dynasty in 1279 was no longer what it would be in the future. Four centuries later, another wave of steppe invaders would replace the Ming dynasty with yet another foreign occupation. The Troubled Empire explores what happened to China between these two dramatic invasions. If anything defined the complex dynamics of this period, it was changes in the weather. Asia, like Europe, experienced a Little Ice Age, and as temperatures fell in the thirteenth century, Kublai Khan moved south into China. His Yuan dynasty collapsed in less than a century, but Mongol values lived on in Ming institutions. A second blast of cold in the 1630s, combined with drought, was more than the dynasty could stand, and the Ming fell to Manchu invaders. Against this background—the first coherent ecological history of China in this period—Timothy Brook explores the growth of autocracy, social complexity, and commercialization, paying special attention to China’s incorporation into the larger South China Sea economy. These changes not only shaped what China would become but contributed to the formation of the early modern world.

A broad and well-written overview of Chinese history from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuryBrook uses stories and anecdotes to illuminate historical trends with grace and skill. For those interested in Chinese history, and for comparative historians, this is a very useful book. -- Peter Ditmanson, University of Oxford
Brook has given a readers a fast-paced, intriguing account of the Yuan and Ming dynasties that will be read and enjoyed for many years to come. -- David D. Buck * Canadian Journal of History *
Brook's ecological approach to China is both original and timely: for also China's rulers of today are faced with widespread social tension deriving from environmental calamity and natural catastrophe. -- Tjalling Halbertsma * Journal of Asian History *
One of those rare works that appeal to both academic and general readers. Its readable prose and intriguing storytelling, coupled with the emphasis on total history, make it more accessible to students at different levels… The Troubled Empire is an outstanding macro study of the Yuan–Ming dynasties by a leading authority on Chinese history. -- Wensheng Wang * Journal of World History *

Timothy Brook is Professor of History and Republic of China Chair at the University of British Columbia. Timothy Brook is Professor of History and Republic of China Chair at the University of British Columbia.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780674072534
ISBN 10	0674072537
Title	The Troubled Empire
Author	Timothy Brook
Series	History Of Imperial China
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Harvard University Press
Year published	2013-03-11
Number of pages	336
Prizes	Nominated for Wallace K. Ferguson Prize 2011, Nominated for John K. Fairbank Prize in East Asian History 2011, Nominated for Joseph Levenson Book Prize 2012
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable