Imperial Twilight

"Imperial Twilight" delves into China's last age of ascendance, its decline, and how it all came to an end with the nineteenth-century Opium War. Historian Stephen Platt offers a new perspective on the early attempts by Western traders and missionaries to "open" China while the country's imperial rulers were struggling with its decline. Platt's fascinating portrayal of the meeting of civilizations serves as a reminder of the unjust wars in imperial history and has important implications for today's political climate.