Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China

"Empress Cixi — a low-ranking consort who became regent for her son and ruled for four decades — is often perceived as a viciously insular ruler who brought down the Qing dynasty, China’s last emperors. Jung Chang is out to change that, with a biography that takes on elements of the best political thrillers. Chang’s sympathy for Cixi is strongly in evidence in this fascinating story, and her ability to assemble context unobtrusively in the background makes her exhaustive research seem effortless. Cixi is one of those necessary biographies that illuminate an era, as well as recounting a life."