The Dragon Throne: China's Emperors from the Qin to the Manchu

Good book

This book provides an overview of the emperors of China. At just over 300 pages it is obviously very much a skimming of the history of this subject but it was helpful to get a feel, a vibe, of the subject. The author appears to have done a heck of a lot of research to be able to condense so long a timeline into a book of this size and the bibliography is very well stocked with additional items to add to your wish-list.The book itself is pleasantly written though the same information does get repeated - sometimes within a couple of pages - so a more stringent editing process might have been a good idea. Logically enough the story is laid out in a chronological fashion and it must have been difficult for the author to select which emperors to delve into a little further and which ones to leave by the wayside with barely a mention.There is a selection of illustrations that are nice and a useful index to round off what is of necessity a too brief look at a fascinating subject. A good catch all buy for the armchair historian.

Another excellent book by Fenby. This is a brief overview of China's Emperors, dynasty by dynasty. But it is not merely a recitation of facts reign by reign, it also outlines larger and longer trends in Chinese history. A very pleasant introduction to a fascinating topic, only slightly marred by sloppy proofreading.

It is somewhat alarming that this little book for the general reader published by Quercus is probably the best study of the Chinese emperors that has ever been written in a single volume work. If you want an interesting account of the history of China that focuses on the emperors, there is no other book really available. This is it, simple as that.

It helped me to finish my dissertation.