The Lion and the Dragon

Lawrence James is the doyen of Empire historians -- Philip Hensher * The Spectator * James' writing is always full of energy and animation; he has an excellent eye for revealing detail, and yet is not afraid to attempt the broad, magisterial sweep -- William Dalrymple * Sunday Times * James never loses sight of his grand design, yet he still finds room for the telling detail which illuminates and enriches a narrative * Daily Telegraph * James can't write a dull sentence . . . Whether he is describing the Indian mutiny or the Suez crisis, the expansion of Africa or the little local difficulty in the American colonies, James has a genius for detail -- A.N. Wilson Fascinating . . . What helps The Lion and the Dragon to stand out is its brevity and brisk pace. A master of distillation, James covers just under 200 years of history in approximately the same number of pages. He does so while keeping his account broad and generally balanced . . . James's grasp of modern Japan's relationship with China is strong and - as with all his scholarship in this book - lightly worn . . . a pithy, eminently accessible study * The Telegraph * James writes with energy and flair . . . an entertaining and accessible introduction -- Yuan Yi Zhu * The Times * Other writers have explored particular aspects of Sino-British interactions, but James has come the closest to providing a continuous account of this relationship for a general readership . . . illuminating . . . a highly readable summary of the Chinese encounter with the whole of the modern world -- Philip Snow * Literary Review * With deceptive ease James charts the ups and down of Sino-British relations over the last 200 years in a highly readable 200 pages . . . Judicious and never dull, The Lion and the Dragon is essential reading -- John Keay, author of CHINA: A HISTORY