Jonathan D. Spence was a historian specializing in Chinese history. His work focused on the last several hundred years of Chinese history. His most famous book became one of the standard texts for this period. Spence was a professor of history at Yale University.
Covers over four centuries of Chinese history, from the waning days of the Ming dynasty to Deng Xiao-Ping's bloody supression of the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. The author's previous books on China include "The Gate of Heavenly Peace" and "The Question of Hu".
A powerful account of the largest uprising in human history--the Taiping rebellion (1845-64)--in which 20 million Chinese were left dead, God's Chinese Son tells "a story that reaches beyond China into our world and time; a story of faith, hope, passion, and a fatal grandiosity" (Washington Post Book World). Photos. Author lectures & tour.
In 1577, the Jesuit Priest Matteo Ricci set out from Italy to bring Christian faith and Western thought to Ming dynasty China. To capture the complex emotional and religious drama of Ricci's extraordinary life, Jonathan Spence relates his subject's experiences with several images that Ricci himself created--four images derived from the events in the bible and others from a book on the art of memory that Ricci wrote in Chinese and circulated among members of the Ming dynasty elite. A rich and compelling narrative about a remarkable life, The Memory Palace Of Matteo Ricci is also a significant work of global history, juxtaposing the world of Counter-Reformation Europe with that of Ming China.
The book offers an in-depth exploration of Mao Zedong, utilizing the author's extensive understanding of Chinese politics and culture. It presents a nuanced portrayal of Mao, highlighting his complexities and the impact of his leadership on China. The insightful analysis is praised for its clarity and depth, making it a valuable resource for those interested in Chinese history and political figures.
Drawing on local Chinese histories, the memoirs of scholars, and other contemporary writings, Chinese historian Jonathan Spence reconstructs an extraordinary tale of rural tragedy in a remote corner of Shantung province in 17th-century China. Life in the county of T'an-ch'eng emerges as an endless cycle of floods, plagues, crop failures, banditry, and heavy taxation. Against this turbulent background a tenacious tax collector, an irascible farmer, and an unhappy wife act out a poignant drama at whose climax the wife, having run away from her husband, returns to him, only to die at his hands.
Jonathan Spence, our foremost historian of Chinese politics and culture, tells us in his new book how the West has understood China over seven centuries. Ranging from Marco Polo's own depiction of China and the mighty Khan, Kublai, in the 1270s to the China sightings of three 20th-century writers of acknowledged genius -- Kafka, Borges, and Calvino -- Spence explores Western thought on China through a remarkable array of expression. Peopling Spence's account are Iberian adventurers, the great Jesuit missionaries, Enlightenment synthesizers including Voltaire and Montesquieu, spinners of the dreamy cult of Chinoiserie, American observers such as Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Ezra Pound, and Eugene O'Neill, and diplomats from Britain's Lord Macartney to Henry Kissinger. Their visions are alternately coarse and subtle, generous and vicious, sober and exotic. Taken together they tell us as much about the self-image of the West as about China.
In the work of twenty-five years, Jonathan Spence has established himself as an interpreter of modern Chinese history. His most recent book was The Search for Modern China.
Die Vergangenheit Chinas liegt für die meisten Europäer im Dunkeln. Jonathan D. Spence, Historiker und Erzähler in einer Person, vermittelt mit der Biografie des großen Gelehrten und Exzentrikers Zhang Dai einen anschaulichen und lebendigen Eindruck der Ming-Zeit (1368-1644), die Politik, Kultur und Gesellschaft im Reich der Mitte zu höchster Blüte brachte.
Der Autor, einer der renommiertesten Sinologen der Gegenwart, hat die neueste Literatur über Mao Zedong zusammengefasst und einer sehr pointierte und flüssig geschriebene Biografie vorgelegt.
Ein Polit-Krimi aus dem alten China: Als General Yue Zhongqi einen Brief überreicht bekommt, der Yue auffordert, eine Rebellion gegen den Kaiser anzuführen, weiß er, dass er in Lebensgefahr ist. Denn allein einen solchen Brief zu besitzen kommt in China einem Todesurteil gleich. Yue bleibt nichts anderes übrig, als dem Ursprung des Briefes nachzuforschen. Damit löst er in der tiefsten Provinz eine Erschütterung aus, die noch am Kaiserhof zu spüren ist. Ein historischer Thriller, der ferne Welten und deren Menschen wieder erstehen lässt und einige Rätsel der chinesischen Kultur erklärt, die uns bis heute beschäftigen.
