Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel (One Volume)

By Luo Guanzhong

Book Overview

Three Kingdoms tells the story of the fateful last reign of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) when the Chinese empire was divided into three warring kingdoms. Writing some twelve hundred years later, the Ming author Luo Guanzhong drew on histories, dramas, and poems portraying the crisis to fashion a sophisticated, compelling narrative that has become the Chinese national epic. This abridged edition captures the novel's intimate and unsparing view of how power is wielded, how diplomacy is conducted, and how wars are planned and fought. As important for Chinese culture as the Homeric epics have been for the West, this Ming dynasty masterpiece continues to be widely influential in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, and remains a great work of world literature.

This abridged edition is particularly useful for undergraduate courses. For the complete text, see the unabridged edition, now available in two parts: Part One; Part Two

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520215850
• ISBN13: 9780520215856
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 504 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.3" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

A must for Chinese film fans

This is the condensed version of the epic history of ancient China and the Kingdom battles centered around the Yangtze River trade routes. It is a classic that gives the background to epic Chinese films like Red Cliff. The true history reads like fiction to the Western reader.