Meyer-Fong, Tobie: What Remains

By calling attention to the human costs of China's Taiping War, What Remains offers new perspectives on issues of abiding interest to historians of 19th and 20th century China: the effects of lingering dynastic decline, the effects of violence on local communities, the emergence of elite activism, and the changing relationship between state and society."Tobie Meyer-Fong's What Remains is a rich and original work that adopts the perspective of individuals who experienced and survived the cataclysmic uprising, which lasted for more than a decade. Drawn from a wide and deep reading of contemporary sources, it is a close examination of what it was like to live through the Taiping conflict....The book, packed with vivifying details, effectively captures an intensely experienced world, and weaves in many large themes."