Great Wall history books

[chinoook]

Originally Posted by travelonely

Cool!

Where can I get those books in Beijing?

Thanks

Best bet for bookshops are all around Wangfujing:

- Foreign Language Book Store
- Wangfujing Book Store
- Xidan Book Store

Ordering books via the internet should be promising and garantee lower prices.


-chinoook

[69SHOVLHED]

any specific book that y'all would recommend for a beginner such as myself?

[chinoook]

Originally Posted by 69SHOVLHED

any specific book that y'all would recommend for a beginner such as myself?

What are you looking for?

- beautiful pictures?
- historical insight?
- understand how much different walls were built?
- reliable/scientific information?
- good stories?
- anything else?


-chinoook

PS: I would recommend to read and explore this forum rather than to read a single book ...

[69SHOVLHED]

reliable historical info, pictures a plus. i'm sure you have certain books that you like more than others. and yes, the forum is awesome; i'd like to thank you and bryan and others for the excellent info and pictures i've gotten from it. but i still do like printed books and magazines... i must be old...

[chinoook]

My recommendations:

Very good historical info and background (especially for western people): The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000 BC - AD 2000 von Julia Lovell

Picture book of not only Ming GW and also reliable historic information: Any of the books of Luo Zewen, must be bought maybe second-hand or maybe even better this one, currently available in China.

There are tons of other books around but if you don't want to end up with all of them (as many Forum's members do) I think these two/three books (along with a critical own opinion and this Forum) are sufficient to understand the whole thing.


-chinoook

[69SHOVLHED]

thanks. i'm gonna order it from amazon. (The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000 BC - AD 2000 von Julia Lovell)

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Bryan

The Great Wall of China
by Claire Roberts and Geremie R. Barme

Did anyone find this book interesting and useful? I saw it in a bookstore yesterday and by a first look it looked interesting.

[chinoook]

It is one of the better ones. It is an exibiton catalog and thus has a lot of photographs of artifacts, many of them not related to any GW at all. GW photos are good and not of the kind you see everywhere. The text is good but not too much GW related.

I do not want to miss this book in my GW section of my bookshelf but it is far from my best GW books (like those from Luo Zhewen and other recent Chinese publications).


-chinoook

[cannic]

Originally Posted by Bryan

The Great Wall
China Against the World
by Julia Lovell

I just finished this book! It was very interesting and insightful, I could not put it down!

[Bryan]

The Great Wall: A Cultural History
By Carlos Rojas

Hardcover: 232 pages
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Date: December 1, 2010
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780674047877
ISBN-13: 978-0674047877

Carlos Rojas presents a sweeping survey of the historical and political significance of one of the world’s most recognizable monuments. Although the splendor of the Great Wall has become virtually synonymous with its vast size, the structure’s conceptual coherence is actually grounded on the tenuous and ephemeral stories we tell about it. These stories give life to the Wall and help secure its hold on our collective imagination, while at the same time permitting it to constantly reinvent itself in accordance with the needs of each new era.

Through an examination of allusions to the Wall in an eclectic array of texts—ranging from official dynastic histories, elite poetry, and popular folktales, to contemporary tourist testimonials, children’s songs, and avant-garde performance art—this study maps out a provocative new framework for understanding the structure’s function and significance.

This volume approaches the Wall through the stories we tell and contends that it is precisely in this cultural history that we may find the Wall’s true meaning, together with the secret of its greatness.