The Last Empress: The She-Dragon of China

Rating:
Summary: the last empress
Review: This 2003 release is little more than a summary of J.O.Bland and E.Backhouse's 'China under the Empress Dowager', first published in 1911. It repeats its biased opinion of the much maligned empress dowager Tzu Hsi (Cixi). The author offers no new insights; he only adds some silly speculation, which will even seem unbelievable to the most credulous reader. Not a lot of serious (read: unbiased) research seems to have been done and there are various factual mistakes in this book as well. Despite all the sources in the bibliography Laider might as well have added one title, namely the before mentioned 'China under the Dowager Empress'. This hardcover version does come with a beautiful lay out and some interesting pictures.