People often have the idea that traditional medicines and herbs are a gentle, natural way of solving health problems, and that chemotherapy is a modern, Western invention... but not at all! This book charts the use of seriously toxic compounds in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in medieval times, to demonstrate that substances like arsenic and aconite have long had a really important place in medical practice. This is an eye-opening book, which serves to demonstrate that very toxic substances have been to fight cancer and other horrible conditions within TCM for more than fifteen centuries, and "natural" doesn't necessarily mean that these remedies come without some pretty brutal side-effects. This is a shocking read and some of the case histories described are horrendous, but then that's true of any book about the history of medicine. This is a subject written in human blood and pain!
Winner of the 2023 William H. Welch Medal, sponsored by the American Association for the History of Medicine
A revealing study of risky cures in classical Chinese pharmacy
At first glance, medicine and poison might seem to be opposites. But in China's formative era of pharmacy (200-800 CE), poisons were strategically deployed as healing agents to cure everything from chills to pains to epidemics. Healing with Poisons explores the ways physicians, religious devotees, court officials, and laypeople used powerful substances to both treat intractable illnesses and enhance life. It illustrates how the Chinese concept of du-a word carrying a core…
There's a reason why this wonderful book is back in print! In this marvelous study of the craftspeople of Han dynasty China (approximately 200 BCE-200 CE), Anthony Barbieri-Low looks at the people who made the beautiful objects that now fill museums around the world--what were their lives like? Who cast these bronzes, wove this silk, threw these pots, painted this lacquer, and beyond that, who chopped down the trees and mined the metal? This is a fantastic account of the manufacturing processes that created physical objects, and wherever possible, the author has looked beyond conventional aesthetic approaches (isn't this a pretty thing?) to think about the much less lovely aspects of the lives of the makers and the troubles they faced, particularly when they were enslaved or criminalized. Go to any major museum with a good Chinese art collection and you can look at the objects these people made, but it is rare indeed to see any reference to the craftspeople concerned. As this book demonstrates, there's a lot to know about them and their life experiences, and this can only enhance our appreciation of their work.
An award-winning study of the ancient world, now back in print
Early China is best known for the dazzling material artifacts it has left behind. These terracotta figures, gilt-bronze lamps, and other material remnants of the Chinese past unearthed by archaeological excavations are often viewed without regard to the social context of their creation, yet they were made by individuals who contributed greatly to the foundations of early Chinese culture. With Artisans in Early Imperial China, Anthony Barbieri-Low combines historical, epigraphic, and archaeological analysis to refocus our gaze from the glittering objects and monuments of China onto the men and…
As climate catastrophes happen around the globe, this is a fantastic account of the early history of environmental degradation across the north China plain from the first humans down to the unification of China in 221 BCE. This book connects social and political developments to the increasing and unsustainable exploitation of the environment in just this one corner of the world, but it's an important corner, because the north China plain is where a succession of major Chinese states had their capital cities. This is a depressing read, but also an acknowledgement of just how significant the impact of changes in human behavior on flora and fauna can be, and how things people view as positive progress in the moment can have a truly devastating effect on the environment (and the quality of human life) in the long term. It doesn't look good for us, and when contemplating the future, this book just makes me think that we don't want to be starting from here. However, this is a wonderful read, and the author takes us on a journey of decline and loss that we ought to know about--exactly the same thing has happened all over the world.
A multidisciplinary environmental history of early China's political systems, featuring newly available Chinese archaeological data
"Over four thousand years of unsustainable growth, Chinese states replaced a diverse ecosystem with a monocropping grain state. All states destroy environments, but only the state can save us. So ancient China's spectres still haunt our modern crisis. A brilliant and disturbing analysis!"-Peter C. Perdue, author of Environmental History in China and the West: Its Origins and Prospects
This book is a multidisciplinary study of the ecology of China's early political systems up to the fall of the first empire in 207 BCE. Brian Lander…
Deep inside the Zhou royal palace, an ancient curse is released, and darkness spreads across the land. An incompetent king's mad passion for a teenaged slave leads to the country being torn apart by civil war. As the situation unravels, will anyone attempt to stand against the forces of chaos?
One of the great works of Chinese literature, Kingdoms in Peril is an epic historical novel charting the five hundred years leading to the unification of the country in 221 B.C.E. under the rule of the legendary First Emperor. Writing some fourteen hundred years later, the Ming-era author Feng Menglong drew on a vast trove of literary and historical documents to compose a gripping narrative account of how China was forged.
Detailing the stories of unforgettable characters who defined and shaped the times in which they lived, the complete edition of Kingdoms in Peril is a vital resource for those seeking a comprehensive overview of China's ancient past and the political machinations that led to its unification. There are many historical works that provide an account of some of these events, but none are as thrilling and breathtakingly memorable as Kingdoms in Peril.
