Jason Furman's Reviews > The Shortest History of China

This book impressively crams thousands of years of Chinese history (and a bit of Chinese pre-history) into 252 pages. It marches through chronologically with chapters for each dynasty and their modern-day equivalents.

In the introduction Linda Jaivin announces, "In writing a short history, a wise person might focus on a few key themes or personalities. I'm not so wise. Faced with deciding between key individuals, economic and social developments, military history, and aesthetic and intellectual currents, I chose... everything." And it mostly works. It never feels like The Long March but it does sometimes feel like a march with what feels like every Emperor name checked in some way along with many of their wives, concubines, and children. Plus every writer, artist, thinker and more. But it also does all basically fit together and help connect a lot of dots that I already knew.

I also appreciated that the author was genuinely immersed in Chinese history and culture and not just tossing the book off on a lark. There was a precision to the descriptions of language, the debates over issues (e.g., Confucius) that worked really well.

Tempted to balance this by reading 1587: A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline next.