The Last Empress: the She-Dragon of China

by Keith Laidler

Book Overview

Forced to enter the Chinese Emperor's harem at the tender age of sixteen, Yehonala lost her family, her betrothed, and all hope of a normal life. Immured in the seraglio, her beauty and sexual expertise soon enthralled the Son of Heaven, and she was held in high favour as The Orchid, especially after presenting the Emperor with his only male heir.

But even with this protection she was far from safe. Yehonala had entered the perilous world...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1911405845
• ISBN13: 9781911405849
• Release Date: April 2019
• Publisher: Aziloth Books
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

History for Non-History Majors

I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is visiting China in the near future and wants to learn more about the decline and fall of the last imperial dynasty. I recently visited, and I wish I would have read this book before seeing the Winter Palace and the Forbidden City. The author is not a historian. This is a good thing. My bookshelf is full of accurate and comprehensive history books, but I wouldn't recommend too many of them to anyone other than historians. Laidler writes in a style that allows the general reader to follow along and actually want to turn the pages to learn more. I would recommend the book to students of leadership as well as folks who want to learn more about Chinese history. It is a case study in power for the sake of survival and power itself. I wonder how Chinese history of the 1900s might have been different with a different power behind the throne. The ol' "do people make history or does history make people' debate ... I can't give it five stars. In spots, it reads more like historical fiction than fact. That is okay with me, but I would relegate those speculations to sidebars if this was a magazine rather than a book. Also, the author should use the more commonly accepted name of the main character - my Chinese friends were a bit mystified by my earnest description of the book until I used the commonly used name Cixi. Also, a few maps would help the general reader. All in all, a very satisfying read. If you are confused by recent Chinese history, then this will fill in a lot of gaps.