Fairbank's "China: A New History"

If you are a student of Chinese history, there's a book that should be on your bookshelf: John King Fairbank's China: A New History. Even though it's almost 15 years old, it is a great read and a great reference.

John King Fairbank was a giant in the field of China studies, and taught at Harvard for decades. I was first exposed to his work when I was an undergraduate at Boston University in the late 1980s. Professor Merle Goldman (one of his former Harvard students) taught Chinese history using an earlier textbook that he co-wrote, East Asia: Tradition and Transformation.

Fifteen years later, when I started my graduate studies at the Extension School, Professor Philip Kuhn, another one of Fairbank's disciples, used China: A New History as a textbook, and also recommended its prose-style bibliography as the basis for research papers. My old B.U. professor, Merle Goldman, is credited as a co-author of China: A New History.

Last night I was flipping through the bibliography, and for the first time read the acknowledgements section at the end of the book. This is the part where the author gives thanks to all of the people that assisted in the research, writing, and editing processes. It turns out that Fairbank never had a chance to write one; he submitted the final manuscript on Sept. 12, 1991, had a heart attack that afternoon, and died two days later. The acknowledgement, written by a colleague, explained this, and mentioned all of the people at Harvard and elsewhere who helped him finish this one last project. It turns out Fairbank had been in declining health, but managed to finish this book, which you could say was the culmination of his life's work.

If you are interested in reading it, check your university library, or order it at Amazon.