For westerners, China's history is often reduced to a choice between timeless Confucian ideals or incomprehensible barbarisms such as footbinding or mass slaughter. This engaging and deeply knowledgeable book vigorously counters such oversimplifications. In concise and accessible style, China experts present cutting-edge research in an accessible format that challenges readers to move beyond the standard portrayals of Chinese history and develop more complex and nuanced understandings of the historical background and legacies that are essential for any realistic comprehension of twenty-first-century China.