China: A History – John Keay
Lately, I have been feeling my ignorance in history. Having grown up in the United States, I think I have a fairly decent grounding in our history (though I certainly can, and will, learn more). World history is another matter. I am not interested in, nor capable of, committing dates and names to memory, but I do want to have a general knowledge of the sweep of world history. To that end I read this history of China by John Keay.
I will confess that I had not heard of this author before, which is to my detriment. With an education in history, and pursuing a career in journalism, Mr. Keay has written many books, mostly about India and Asia. China: A History is actually one of his more recent books, having been published in 2008. Apparently his India: A History is considered to be an excellent history of India, a country which appears dear to his heart.
It is no small task to condense millennia of history down to a 535 pages and make it interesting and readable, but Mr. Keay has done just that. While I cannot recite the succession of all the dynasties (even though they were given), I did come away with a great appreciation of the scope of the country’s history and of its people, its geography and its political background – all necessary, I believe, to understanding China’s modern culture.
I am aware that the edition of the book I read had a few factual errors. For example, in the Epilogue reference is made to Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) announcing the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1939, when just a couple of pages earlier in the previous chapter the correct date of 1949 was given. I believe this was due to inadvertent editing errors and does not affect the value of the book. I have also read that such errors have been corrected in more recent printings, or at least in the electronic version.
I recommend this book to anyone as an excellent overall history of China. I so enjoyed this book that I have purchased India: A History to expand my knowledge of that part of the world. Mr. Keay has also written other books that look equally interesting and which I will seek out.
(Finished 11/30/13)