The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of Modern China

By Julia Lovell

Book Overview

Beginning with the dramas of the war itself, Julia Lovell explores its causes and consequences and, through this larger narrative, interweaves the curious stories of opium's promoters and attackers. The Opium War is both the story of China's first conflict with the West and an analysis of the country's contemporary self-image. It explores how China's national myths mold its interactions with the outside world, how public memory is spun to serve the present; and how delusion and prejudice have bedeviled its relationship with the modern West.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1468308955
• ISBN13: 9781468308952
• Release Date: August 2014
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.2" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher