媒体评论/ 他广博的历史视野、深入分析的能力、清楚阐明问题的天赋，以及他伟大的幽默感和个人魅力，使他永远是一个广受欢迎的作家、评论家、顾问和发言人。 ——欧立德 关于魏斐德广阔的知识、罕见的能力、伟大的谦逊，以及似乎毫不费力地把各种社会理论与原创性研究结合起来阐释广阔的历史和人文学的功底，我们所有有幸认识他的人都能讲出许多故事来。 ——傅高义 他深刻而单纯，既是智者又是孩子。跟他在一起，会让人唤起一种对人类早年精神源头的乡愁。他笑起来如此纵情、毫无遮拦，如晴天霹雳，只有内心纯粹的人才会这样笑。我想正是他的博大、正直和宽容超越了学院生活的狭隘、晦暗与陈腐，超越个人的荣辱、爱憎与苦乐。 ——北岛 内容介绍/ 本书收录了魏斐德自上世纪90年代以来的所有重大演讲稿和访谈文稿。这些精辟的文字充分展示了这位伟大的历史学家对于中国历史的整体把握，也体现了他对中国历史的独特理解和认识。同时，本书可以作为进一步阅读魏斐德其他学术著作的津梁。本书绝大多数文字都是首次出现在中文世界中。演讲采访稿的文字风格，比其他著作更能为一般读者所接受。

本书选择了明清嬗代过程为论述对象，从政治、经济、文化、社会、民族诸多方面进行剖析，揭示帝国秩序崩解与重建的过程等。据美国加利福尼亚大学出版社1985年版译出。

Now available again, this pioneering work examines one of the most controversial periods in Chinese history: the relationship between the Chinese civil and military authorities and the British trading community in Guangdong province on the eve of the Taiping Rebellion, one the most calamitous events in Chinese history. Wakeman shows how prevailing rural discontent, urban riots, secret society activity, and the imbalance of class and clan affected the mechanisms of regional power and gentry control, demonstrating the progression of rebellion and the historical inevitability of revolution.

Prewar Shanghai: casinos, brothels, Green Gang racketeers, narcotics syndicates, gun-runners, underground Communist assassins, Comitern secret agents. Frederic Wakeman's masterful study of the most colorful and corrupt city in the world at the time provides a panoramic view of the confrontation and collaboration between the Nationalist secret police and the Shanghai underworld. In detailing the life and politics of China's largest urban center during the Guomindang era, Wakeman covers an array of topics: the puritanical social controls implemented by the police; the regional differences that surfaced among Shanghai's Chinese, the influence of imperialism and Western-trained officials. Parts of this book read like a spy novel, with secret police, torture, assassination; and power struggles among the French, International Settlement, and Japanese consular police within Shanghai. Chiang Kai-shek wanted to prove that the Chinese could rule Shanghai and the country by themselves, rather than be exploited and dominated by foreign powers. His efforts to reclaim the crime-ridden city failed, partly because of the outbreak of war with Japan in 1937, but also because the Nationalist police force was itself corrupted by the city. Wakeman's exhaustively researched study is a major contribution to the study of the Nationalist regime and to modern Chinese urban history. It also shows that twentieth-century China has not been characterized by discontinuity, because autocratic government - whether Nationalist or Communist - has prevailed.

This superb collection of essays on late imperial and modern Chinese history spans the brilliant forty-year career of the late Frederic E. Wakeman, Jr. Appearing for the first time in one volume, the essays offer richly textured narratives of critical historical events as well as sweeping analyses of China's place in world history. They take us from the late Ming dynasty to the People's Republic―delving into complex issues of Confucianism and intellectual history, the nitty-gritty details of Jiangyin localism, wartime Shanghai, and more. Always there is engagement with the larger concerns of history and the social the public sphere, rebellion and revolution, the world crisis of the seventeenth century, and the influence of imperialism.