'Effortless and compelling, Brooks is a wonderful storyteller. I doubt I will read a better book this year.' Sunday TelegraphEach of Vermeer's paintings tells a story. In one, a military officer leans toward a laughing girl; in another, a woman stands by a window and weighs silver; in a third, fruit spills from a porcelain bowl onto a lavish Turkish carpet.Hiding in plain sight, these details hint at the intricate threads that boun...

China is one of the oldest states in the world. It achieved its approximate current borders with the Ascendancy of the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century, and despite the passing of one Imperial dynasty to the next, it has maintained them for the eight centuries since. Even the European colonial powers at the height of their power could not move past coastal enclaves. Thus, China remained China through the Ming, the Qing, the Republic, the Occupation, and Communism.But, despite the d...

The author of Vermeer's Hat shares "a dizzying and exhilarating journey" through 800 years of Chinese history and national identity (New Statesman).China is one of the oldest states in the world. It achieved its approximate borders with the Ascendancy of the Yuan dynasty in the thirteenth century and has maintained them ever since—through the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Republic, the Occupation, and Communism. Yet China has never been alone in the world. I...

In 1659, a vast and unusual map of China arrived in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It was bequeathed by John Selden, a London business lawyer, political activist, former convict, MP and the city's first Orientalist scholar. Largely ignored, it remained in the bowels of the library, until called up by an inquisitive reader. When Timothy Brook saw it in 2009, he realised that the Selden Map was 'a puzzle that had to be solved': an exceptional artefact, so unsettlingly modern-looking it could ...

How climate change ushered in the collapse of one of history’s mighty empiresIn 1644, after close to three centuries of relative stability and prosperity, the Ming dynasty collapsed. Many historians attribute its demise to the Manchu invasion of China, but the truth is far more profound. The Price of Collapse provides an entirely new approach to the economic and social history of China, exploring how global climate crisis spelled the end of Ming rule....

The Ming dynasty was the last great Chinese dynasty before the Manchu conquest in 1644. During that time, China, not Europe, was the center of the world: the European voyages of exploration were searching not just for new lands but also for new trade routes to the Far East. In this book, Timothy Brook eloquently narrates the changing landscape of life over the three centuries of the Ming (1368-1644), when China was transformed from a closely administered agrarian realm into a place of comm...

「龍蹤」頻現，天有異象；國將興盛，抑或覆亡？─《維梅爾的帽子》作者．漢學家卜正民經典元明研究著作─　　形貌成謎的龍蹤，不僅反映了氣候變化與政治難題，更鏡照當時人們對環境的整體認識與詮釋。《掙扎的帝國》由上述角度切入，以豐富多元的史料紀錄為基底，詳盡梳理了元、明時期的制度、經濟、人口、物質文化與精神世界，尤其著重於此時南海貿易形成的經濟網絡，以及人類與自然爭地所帶來的生態危機：圩田使得洪水更易氾濫、梯田壓縮了動物棲息地，人口增加與隨之而來的樹木濫伐，則令虎患等野獸襲擊事件頻傳──人類生存與大自然反撲的張力，正是此時期的重大議題。洪水、乾旱、蝗災、龍捲風……從氣候變遷的角度，再探元明兩代帝國興衰　　在談論中國的情況時，書中也列舉同時期西方的類似事例作為對照，諸如唐寅、戴進與老彼得．布勒哲爾的畫作，皆記錄下小冰河期的銀白雪景。此外，亦藉由並陳中西文化裡有關「奇珍異獸現身」的敘事，闡述過往社會如何將自然災害視為國家命運、主政者德行等抽象概念的體現，發掘不同文化在相同議題上的交會之處。　　本書為哈佛大學《帝制...

The world-renowned scholar and author of Vermeer’s Hat does for China what Mary Beard did for Rome in SPQR: Timothy Brook analyzes the last eight centuries of China’s relationship with the world in this magnificent history that brings together accounts from civil servants, horse traders, spiritual leaders, explorers, pirates, emperors, migrant workers, invaders, visionaries, and traitors—creating a multifaceted portrait of this highly misunderstood nation.

China, la nación más grande de la tierra, es uno de los Estados más antiguos del mundo. Prácticamente ha mantenido las mismas fronteras desde el siglo XIII, cuando fue invadida por los mongoles de Kubilai Kan, quien fundó la dinastía Yuan y creó el poderoso Gran Estado que Marco Polo nos describió en sus diarios.A lo largo de los siglos, poderosos intereses internos intentaron mantener a China aislada, y así quedó acuñada su imagen en la Historia. Timothy Brook, sin embargo, demues...

The Ming dynasty (1368-1644), a period of commercial expansion and cultural innovation, fashioned the relationship between state and society in Chinese history. This unique collection of reworked and heavily illustrated essays, by one of the leading scholars of Chinese history, re-examines this relationship. It argues that, contrary to previous scholarship, it was radical responses within society that led to a 'constitution', not periods of fluctuation within the dynasty itself. Brook's ou...

★★當代最具影響力的漢學家卜正民重磅鉅作★★一部創新的、顛覆傳統的歷史論述爬梳中國與世界之間近八個世紀以來的關係了解中國對外擴張背後的「大國」邏輯「本書是第一本中文版，說不定也將是唯一的版本。」「……我主張我們不要再把『中國』當成是始於西元前二二一年、終於一九一一年的大一統帝國；我主張我們不要再把『中國』當成隨著一個又一個世紀、一個又一個朝代複製貼上再生的政權，好像船過水無痕一樣。」——卜正民，〈臺灣版序〉「卜正民教授以他淵博的學識、辛勤梳爬各國史料的功力以及對圖像資料的解讀，述說著一個個精彩的天方夜譚般的故事，為我們編織出一個光彩斑斕的大國與世界的嶄新圖像。」——李孝悌（國立中央大學歷史所講座教授）繪於1280年的〈元世祖出獵圖〉，...

Brook (history, U. of Toronto) surveys the history of the concept of the AMP (a concept formulated by Karl Marx in the 1850s) in China in relation to debates elsewhere, and examines the particular issues raised in recent Chinese discussions. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.