The Ming Dynasty: A History of China

In the final decades of the Ming dynasty, China faced enemies outside the Great Wall, rebellion within the empire, bitter struggles at court, and a succession of men convinced that they could still save-or replace-the old order.

The Ming Dynasty: A History of China, Part Three follows this crisis from Nurhaci and the rise of the Later Jin through the reigns of Wanli, Taichang, Tianqi, and Chongzhen, the battles of Sarhu and Ningyuan, the power of Wei Zhongxian, and the tragedy of Yuan Chonghuan. It then moves into the great upheavals surrounding Li Zicheng, the Great Shun, Shanhai Pass, the Manchu Qing, and the Southern Ming courts.

The story stretches from Beijing and Liaodong to Nanjing, Yunnan, Burma, the Yangtze, and Taiwan. Along the way appear Hong Taiji, Wu Sangui, Li Dingguo, the Yongli Emperor, Zheng Chenggong-better known in the West as Koxinga-and many of the generals, rebels, princes, eunuchs, and officials who struggled for survival in a collapsing political world.

Written as accessible narrative history, the book explains complicated court politics and military strategy in straightforward language while keeping the people themselves at the center of the story: their ambitions, misjudgments, loyalties, rivalries, and difficult choices.

It is the history of a dynasty under extraordinary pressure-and of the many competing powers that emerged as the Ming world came apart.