Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2020 -

A large body of literature has been produced on China's Cultural Revolution over the past decades, but, as Walder (Stanford Univ.) reveals through his in-depth analysis, there are still unturned stones, so to speak. The issue he treats was an enigma: during 1966 and 1969, a widespread change of power took place at all levels of government across the country. Existing scholarship attributes this phenomenon to the actions of the Red Guards, or the college students who responded to Mao Zedong's call to attack the so-called "capitalist roaders" in government bureaucracy. But if Red Guards were the agents responsible for the power seizures, they were then also quickly embroiled in factionalism, so much so that the military had to be called in to quell the chaos. Using contemporary sources and statistical analysis, Walder probes this preexisting narrative, discovering that a different picture emerges. In a fascinating finding, he uncovers that the real agents of the government's structural change were the local cadres who rebelled against their supervisors and, after throwing them out of power, also formed the core of the "revolutionary committees" after the power change.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.

Miller (St. John's Univ.) offers a persuasive analysis of Chinese silviculture (controlling forest growth) from 1000 to 1600, roughly covering the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties. Previously, Mark Elvin's hypothesis of "the Great Deforestation" claimed that China suffered deforestation during the medieval economic revolution. Using a variety of primary sources, Miller provides a rebuttal, arguing that China's deforestation occurred in the 19th century. During the above-mentioned six centuries, China actually experienced reforestation owing to the huge demand for timber, commercial development, private management, and governmental fiscal, cadastral, and property holding policies. Although the empires of those periods did not create a formal forest bureaucracy as in other European and Asian countries, the minimal state intervention in China does not indicate a lack of progress in forestry. In fact, by planting and replanting trees, the Chinese experienced a growth of forests. Needless to say, timber was crucial to empire-building, because it served as a vital material for royal navies, urban reconstruction, and daily life. Miller's monograph, supported by solid evidence and compelling arguments, enables the reader to explore this long arc of Chinese civilization from the unique perspective of environmental history.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

The Mao era (1949-76) is often depicted as oppressive, traumatic, and inhumane, and thus many people would consider "Maoist laughter" an oxymoron. In the introduction to this collection, Ping (Chinese literature, Univ. of Oklahoma) points out that "the Mao era was actually a period when laughter was not only ubiquitous but also bonded with political culture to an unprecedented degree." This scholarly study of what made people laugh during the Mao era convincingly demonstrates the diversity, complexity, and dynamics of various cultural productions in Mao's China. Divided into three parts--"Utopian Laughter," "Intermedial Laughter," and "Laughter and Language"-- the volume's ten essays cover, among other things, cross talk, cartoons, dance, children's literature, comedy, regional oral performance, film, and fiction. Taken together, the essays work in concert to offer groundbreaking insight into laughter and humor in the Mao era. Examining social, political, psychological, aesthetic, and linguistic models of laughter from a variety of theoretical perspectives, this volume is the first in-depth examination of an interesting subject and is a welcome addition to the literature on Maoist culture.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

Harris (San Diego State Univ.) tells the little-known story of the rescue of 1,300 Jews in the Philippines during the Holocaust. While the number of those saved seems small when compared to those who perished, Harris's thorough research reveals much about what could have been--but was not--done elsewhere, and what set the Philippines apart from other countries. US High Commissioner Paul McNutt's efforts to create a sanctuary for desperate Jews had the full and enthusiastic cooperation of President Manuel Quezon. Together they managed to sidestep the obstructionist US State Department, which rigorously enforced harshly restrictive immigration laws at home. Also essential to the success of these heroic efforts was the support of Manila's multiethnic Jewish community. Given the country's underdeveloped economy, immigration policy was not completely inclusive. Jews with special skills were favored in the hope that they could facilitate economic development, and later, the absorption of greater numbers of refugees. When the Japanese invaded and occupied the Philippines in 1942, however, the quality of life quickly crumbled for everyone. Harris recounts individual stories of starvation, internment, torture, and death in this important book, giving this episode a human face.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.

This volume presents a microhistory of early US global expansions through vivid case studies of three Americans who ventured to Fiji in the 19th century: beachcomber and settler David Whippy, trader's wife and author of Life in Feejee (1851) Mary Wallis, and merchant and consul John B. Williams. Shoemaker (Univ. of Connecticut) terms these ordinary actors "extraterritorial Americans," analyzing how they impacted US foreign relations from the bottom up. She links these individuals' ambitions in Fiji through the pursuit of respect, arguing that Whippy applied his knowledge of Fiji to earn respect from newly arrived foreigners who eagerly gathered around him, Wallis used her writing to transcend gender and assert herself as an authority on the strange and treacherous habits of the Fijian people, and Williams sought to make money by trading in the islands' natural resources, eventually serving as a US consular agent. Full of colorful and detailed stories, this study reveals the personal motivations that propelled 19th-century American expansions in the Pacific world. It is an excellent supplement to Matt Matsuda's Pacific Worlds (CH, Sep'12, 50-0430) and Nicholas Thomas's Islanders (CH, Oct'11, 49-1034).Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.

Dai (William Patterson Univ.) provides the first in-depth, comprehensive study of the White Lotus War (1796-1805), which aimed to suppress a sectarian rebellion in central and west China. Through meticulous analysis of the central government archives, Dai refreshes and builds on the common understanding of how this prolonged, costly war damaged the imperial system and marked a turning point for the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Contrary to previous knowledge, local elites and the militia they organized did not play a pivotal role in suppressing the rebellion. Therefore, the devolution of political power was not a prominent issue at the turn of the 19th century. Instead, the corruption and dysfunction of the military system, and the emperors' inability to tackle these issues, marked the failure of the imperial system. Military commanders embezzled war funds and used delaying tactics to prolong the war for personal economic gains, and the insufficiency of soldiers forced the government to recruit a large number of militiamen, which incurred cumbersome expenditures. Integrating rigorous research with vivid storytelling, this book is an indispensable addition to the studies of Qing history and the military history of China.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

As Sterckx (Chinese history, science, and civilization, Univ. of Cambridge, UK) reveals early on in this book, he does not approach his subject in the typical way--i.e., he offers no metaphysical or epistemological theses or arguments. Instead the reader gets an elaborate, allegorical narrative using imaginative figurative analogies (battlefields, being a tourist in a busy city, a full meal), much like those in ancient Chinese texts. In other words, instead of bringing Chinese thought to the reader's world, Sterckx allows the reader to navigate the Chinese world. This reviewer experienced something akin to taking a carefully planned tour that not only visits the most important landmarks (the chapter themes) but teaches the stories and reasons behind those landmarks. Just as one would be comfortable visiting and exploring a city after such a tour, the reader comes away from this volume feeling comfortable delving into more of Chinese thought. The chapters are thematic, unifying rather than antagonizing the main players (especially the Confucians and Daoists). This is a delightful introduction to Chinese thought.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

This collection of essays is a fascinating snapshot of the relationship between women and nation in present-day India. The essays, which focus on topics spanning crimes against women, women's dissent, and how the fragility of the environment and development affects women, are a powerful admonition of the political landscape of 21st-century India. In her introduction, editor Ray, an independent researcher, posits that trends in India have resulted in "... freez[ing] both land and women as static 'objects' to be possessed, guarded, and defended." In their individual essays, which emanated from the 2016 "Women Speak Nation: Intersections and Identities" conference at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, the contributing authors note that the complexities of navigating India's caste and class systems, as well as the multi-religious terrain, complicate democracy in unique ways. Notable is the shift toward the platform of the Hindu right, which is often reinforced by upper-caste, middle-class women, further complicating the relationship between women and nation. Each thoughtful, thought-provoking essay also incorporates a global application and asks readers to contend with the idea that a woman's place in any nation is both tenuous and malleable.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.