Out of China: How the Chinese Ended the Era of Western Domination

New
Illustrated
2017
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Format: Illustrated
Pages: 576
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 07 Aug 2017
ISBN 10: 0674976878
ISBN 13: 9780674976870

Media Reviews

A beautifully written history of China's 20th-century interactions with the outside world. But instead of the narrow, legitimacy-enhancing story peddled by the Chinese Communist party, Bickers tells a far more complex tale of the forces of attraction, rejection and interdependence that have consistently defined China's varied dealings with the world...Out of China demolishes many favorite motifs of official history in China...Interweaving political and cultural history, the detailed narratives of this book are essential correctives to the tale spun by Beijing's current rulers. Each regime chronicled in this book sought to contort history to serve its purposes, and Xi's today is no exception...Teeming with nuances while assailing the Communist party's nationalistic narrative, Bickers' book is a reminder of the importance of uncovering the past's messy, contradictory truths.--Julian Gewirtz Financial Times (03/22/2017)
We have badly needed a comprehensive account of how Chinese nationalism was formed in interaction with foreign presence in the long twentieth century, and this book admirably fills that gap. Written with great verve and style, Out of China will appeal to a broad audience.--Rana Mitter, University of Oxford
Robert Bickers is a pre-eminent chronicler of China...a great story told with splashes of color and sharp wit.--Jonathan Fenby Literary Review
[Bickers's] thoughtful, engaging, and well-written analysis helps to separate fact from myth when it comes to understanding the nature of Chinese nationalism...Out of China is a panoramic examination of the increasingly powerful articulation of China's national identity in the twentieth century and the country's painful encounter with Western imperialism...Out of China, underpinned by extensive research in archives and written in warm and often witty prose, seeks neither to condemn nor celebrate the Western presence in China. Instead, it is an important reminder that even when our shared history is forgotten in the West, it is very much remembered--and sometimes resented--in Beijing and Shanghai today.--Rana Mitter New York Review of Books (12/07/2017)