Heavens Empires

James Palmer's book begins with wars fought by chariots on the plains 3000 years ago and ends with the reassertion of Chinese imperial power under Xi Jinping. This is a narrative of great empires rising and falling, of astonishingly beautiful art and technological genius. China became, in some places and at some times, 'modern' a long time before the rest of the world.

Each of the chapters is a great read and each has a narrative arc and a central character. Each has strong dramatic scenes, and makes even the most horrific events explicable, if not necessarily forgivable. But while each chapter is a story in itself, they build into and onto each other, reinforcing historical themes and calling back and forth in time.

And this isn't just a book about China, it's also a book about Mongolia and Korea and Vietnam and Kazakhstan and Tibet and England and America, because China's history is the world's history