I

am deeply indebted to the editors of this series, Bonnie Smith and
Anand Yang, and to Nancy Toff of Oxford University Press, for
inviting me to attempt such an overview of Chinese history. I greatly
appreciate their confi dence and their constructive criticisms. Three
excellent outside readers gave me more helpfully sharp criticisms of my
fi rst draft than I wanted. I also want to thank Sonia Tycko for her
expert help in locating and securing the illustrations for this volume,
Joellyn Ausanka for managing the production process so cheerfully and
effi ciently, and Martha Ramsey for her expert copyediting. Brad Stern
graciously contributed two photos, and the generosity of Andrea and
Peter Klein greatly facilitated my research and helped make possible
the illustrations in this volume. My intellectual debts are far too many
to summarize here. I especially thank Thomas Massey of Clark Uni-
versity for being my sounding board and for his many suggestions on
the overall thrust of this book. Bruce and Taeko Brooks have helped
maintain my interest in, and shape my views of, early Chinese history.
I’m extremely grateful to my wife, Marjorie, my most important source
of support and inspiration. The oversights and errors that remain are
entirely my own.

Acknowledgments