Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Note on Editorial Style
Chronology of the Ming-Qing Transition
1. Zhang Xianzhong and the Ming-Qing Transition
2. The Rise of the Yellow Tiger
3. Establishing the Great Western Kingdom
4. Looting Heaven’s Storehouse
5. Erasing the Shame of Banditry
6. Allying with the Ming
7. A House Divided
8. The Annihilation of the Kuidong 13
9. The Rhetoric of Catastrophe
Appendix 1: Defenders, Contenders, and Pretenders
Appendix 2: Chinese Weights and Measures
Appendix 3: Rebels, Rogues, Regents, and Rascals
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Kenneth M. Swope is a professor of history, director of
graduate studies, and senior fellow of the Dale Center for the
Study of War and Society at the University of Southern
Mississippi. He is the author of A Dragon’s Head and a
Serpent’s Tail: Ming China and the First Great East Asian War,
1592–1598 and The Military Collapse of China’s Ming Dynasty,
1618–44.
"Swope here provides an in-depth study of the transition from Ming
to Qing in Southwest China. This book is satisfying to readers who
are interested in the history of the Ming-Qing transition and
military conflicts in seventeenth-century global
history."—Ting-Chih Wu, H-War
"Swope's narration of the many battles and massacres is fluid and
easy to follow."—K.E. Stapleton, Choice
"Kenneth Swope presents his readers with a powerful epic narrative
of the great ordeal of Southwest China during the Ming-Qing
transition."—Wing Kin Puk, Journal of Chinese History
"Kenneth Swope's book offers a masterful analysis of the strategies
and tactics of the main players in a brutal, multilayered conflict,
including peasant rebels, the Southern Ming, and the Manchu Qing. .
. . On the Trail of the Yellow Tiger is a lucid, often
thrilling treatment of its subject; it will appeal to both
scholarly and general audiences."—Xing Hang, Michigan War
Studies Review
"On the Trail of the Yellow Tiger is a judicious and
well-researched study of war, trauma, and social dislocation during
one of the most violent and chaotic periods in Chinese history. . .
. Swope's study will be of great value to graduate students and
historians of China, as well as to scholars interested in
comparative history and military history of the early modern
period."—Robert J. Antony, American Historical Review
“Zhang Xianzhong, known as the butcher of Sichuan, is one of
the most riveting—and frightening—figures in Chinese history. Yet
no book in English has ever been published on him. In this
accessible and vivid study Ken Swope assesses the history and
legacy of this infamous rebel leader, showing that his bloody reign
was of signal importance in the emergence of China’s last imperial
dynasty. It belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in Qing
history or global military history.”—Tonio Andrade, professor of
history at Emory University and author of The Gunpowder Age
“With this new study Ken Swope consolidates his reputation as
the prime investigator of war in early modern China. The book
provides at once the portrait of a rebel leader, a close-up view of
the horrors of war and famine, and a detailed analysis of the
devastation of Sichuan in the Ming-Qing transition. The engaging
narrative brings to life the realities of a period of Chinese
history that still remains largely unknown to a Western
audience.”—Nicola Di Cosmo, Henry Luce Foundation Professor of East
Asian History at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton
University
“Noteworthy for its examination of the ‘rhetoric of catastrophe.’
The perception and representation of the horrors resulting from
civil strife is a subject that is relevant throughout all of
China’s imperial history. The book is grounded in an impressive
range of modern Chinese secondary scholarship and traditional
sources, including eyewitness accounts. Kenneth Swope has a real
talent for writing lively and colorful narrative and for
incorporating seventeenth-century voices into that story.”—David A.
Graff, Pickett Professor of Military History and director of the
East Asian Studies program at Kansas State University
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
