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caputon's review against another edition
4.0
Highly useful dive into the histories of the Opium War and how it's remembered today. Read Autumn 2019
abarrera's review against another edition
4.0
A great read on the first Opium War with extensive documentation from both sides of the conflict, China and the British empire. Lovell's style is a bit tedious, especially at the beginning of the book (it's always challenging to create a good flow when you're dropping quotes here and there). However, the book picks steam after the first quarter and takes you through a very interesting period of history. If anything, the final part of the book was a bit of an extra for me. While Lovell has great knowledge of that historical period, I feel she doesn't do such a good job on the final one. Granted that the book isn't about the modern period but if you're going to devote nearly a quarter of the book to it, I wished she had been a bit more thorough. Either case, a must-read book if you want to understand most of the current PRC foreign policies.
ericblair's review
informative
medium-paced
4.0
A good introduction to the first opium war, as well as the background and modern day context. Easy to read.
sybaritick's review
dark
informative
slow-paced
3.5
An interesting read on the Opium War that definitely served the purpose of helping me understand more about the conflict. Despite the author's best efforts it does get dry at times (this can't really be helped with long books on serious and dark subjects like this) and I feel I don't completely agree with the author's politics, but despite that I would still recommend it if you are interested in the Opium War and its effects on China. I appreciate the numerous detailed perspectives from both British and Chinese people of the time.
fourtriplezed's review against another edition
3.0
Informative and a sometimes riveting narrative style delivery but verged at times to sarcasm aimed at both the Chinese and the British. No doubt deserved but maybe a little too obvious for my liking. I would add that the 2nd Opium War received one far too short chapter.
The final couple of chapters, consisting of discussion on how the Chinese used the Opium Wars for propaganda purposes, was interesting but were far too long when there was a very good story of the entire wars to be told. Maybe the author had lost patience with the original story. A very good timeline, good footnotes and an excellent bibliography finished a good if flawed book.
The final couple of chapters, consisting of discussion on how the Chinese used the Opium Wars for propaganda purposes, was interesting but were far too long when there was a very good story of the entire wars to be told. Maybe the author had lost patience with the original story. A very good timeline, good footnotes and an excellent bibliography finished a good if flawed book.