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ratings: ★★★★★. (5/5)
Genre: Biography / History / Chinese History / Women's Studies

Book Review:
Jung Chang, the author of the beloved classic Wild Swans, has done it again. Empress Dowager Cixi is a revelation—a sweeping, meticulously researched, and utterly gripping biography that completely overturns everything we thought we knew about one of history's most maligned figures. Cixi has long been portrayed in the West as a cruel, conservative despot who clung to the past while China crumbled around her. Chang demolishes this caricature, revealing instead a brilliant, pragmatic, and visionary leader who dragged a medieval empire into the modern age. From a lowly concubine, Cixi rose to become the absolute ruler of a third of the world's population. She abolished torture, ended foot-binding, reformed education, and built industries. She navigated court intrigues, foreign threats, and personal tragedies with remarkable skill. Chang writes with the narrative drive of a novelist and the authority of a historian, drawing on newly available archives to bring Cixi and her world vividly to life. The New York Times calls it ''a truly authoritative account.'' The Evening Standard says it's ''history at its most readable.'' I couldn't agree more. Essential reading for anyone interested in China, women in power, or simply a great story brilliantly told.