null

Recently Viewed

New

Fateful Ties: A History of America's Preoccupation with China by Gordon H. Chang 9780674050396

No reviews yet Write a Review
RRP: £33.95
£27.29
Booksplease saves you

  Delivery: We ship to over 200 countries!
  Range: Millions of books available
  Reviews: Booksplease rated "Excellent" on Trustpilot

SKU:
9780674050396
Weight:
650.00 Grams
Available from Booksplease!
Availability: Usually dispatched within 5 working days

Frequently Bought Together:

Total: Inc. VAT
Total: Ex. VAT

Description

Americans look to China with fascination and fear, unsure whether the rising Asian power is friend or foe but certain it will play a crucial role in America's future. This is nothing new, Gordon Chang says. For centuries, Americans have been convinced of China's importance to their own national destiny. Fateful Ties draws on literature, art, biography, popular culture, and politics to trace America's long and varied preoccupation with China.

China has held a special place in the American imagination from colonial times, when Jamestown settlers pursued a passage to the Pacific and Asia. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Americans plied a profitable trade in Chinese wares, sought Chinese laborers to build the West, and prized China's art and decor. China was revered for its ancient culture but also drew Christian missionaries intent on saving souls in a heathen land. Its vast markets beckoned expansionists, even as its migrants were seen as a "yellow peril" that prompted the earliest immigration restrictions. A staunch ally during World War II, China was a dangerous adversary in the Cold War that followed. In the post-Mao era, Americans again embraced China as a land of inexhaustible opportunity, playing a central role in its economic rise.

Through portraits of entrepreneurs, missionaries, academics, artists, diplomats, and activists, Chang demonstrates how ideas about China have long been embedded in America's conception of itself and its own fate. Fateful Ties provides valuable perspective on this complex international and intercultural relationship as America navigates an uncertain new era.



About the Author
Gordon H. Chang is Oliver H. Palmer Professor in Humanities and Professor of History at Stanford University.

Reviews
A rich narrative populated by often-familiar characters and events seen through the parallax perspective of their thoughts on, or relationship to, China. -- Sheila Melvin * Caixin *
Chang's interest lies in the preconceptions and fond assumptions about China that would lead, at times, to far-reaching policies and actions by the U.S. -- Eva Shan Chou * Times Higher Education *
Gordon Chang, in Fateful Ties, fully acknowledges the U.S. preoccupation with China... Well aware of the risks inherent in the relationship, Chang casts a wide net as he focuses on the role cultural, educational, business, and political connections play in the relationship... Chang's work deserves a broad audience and will more [than] likely stand the test of time. -- D. L. Wilson * Choice *
[A] thought-provoking history of our 400-year preoccupation with China. * Kirkus Reviews *
Whether discussing mutually beneficial trade and discourse or souring relations leading to conflict, Chang argues that ties between [China and the United States] are not predestined but that the futures of both nations are nonetheless deeply intertwined. -- Casey Watters * Library Journal *
Chang analyzes the past 300 years of Sino-American relations, as the world's most populous nation is poised to regain economic supremacy. It's a succinct, sharply focused analysis, and Chang underlines America's status as a fledgling nation while China was an ancient empire. * Publishers Weekly *
Chang's elegant analysis of America's long cultural obsession with China spans such diverse issues as the nation's early mania for tea and porcelain through the outpouring of 'yellow peril' literature in both the late-nineteenth and again in the early-twenty-first centuries. His many insights add a much needed depth and scope to understanding this often troubled but always important relationship. -- Michael Schaller, author of The U.S. and China: Into the Twenty-First Century
Fateful Ties is a brilliant narrative of America's obsession with China from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Chang's eloquently written history takes this country's ongoing mythmaking about China seriously and subjects it to a richly detailed critical analysis. An essential book for anyone interested in going behind the 'rise of China' headlines. -- Marilyn B. Young, Professor of History, New York University


Awards
Nominated for Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize 2016 and Lawrence W. Levine Award 2016.



Book Information
ISBN 9780674050396
Author Gordon H. Chang
Format Hardback
Page Count 336
Imprint Harvard University Press
Publisher Harvard University Press

Reviews

No reviews yet Write a Review

Booksplease  Reviews


J - United Kingdom

Fast and efficient way to choose and receive books

This is my second experience using Booksplease. Both orders dealt with very quickly and despatched. Now waiting for my next read to drop through the letterbox.

J - United Kingdom

T - United States

Will definitely use again!

Great experience and I have zero concerns. They communicated through the shipping process and if there was any hiccups in it, they let me know. Books arrived in perfect condition as well as being fairly priced. 10/10 recommend. I will definitely shop here again!

T - United States

R - Spain

The shipping was just superior

The shipping was just superior; not even one of the books was in contact with the shipping box -anywhere-, not even a corner or the bottom, so all the books arrived in perfect condition. The international shipping took around 2 weeks, so pretty great too.

R - Spain

J - United Kingdom

Found a hard to get book…

Finding a hard to get book on Booksplease and with it not being an over inflated price was great. Ordering was really easy with updates on despatch. The book was packaged well and in great condition. I will certainly use them again.

J - United Kingdom