PositiveThe London Review of BooksDemand evokes supply, and Timothy Brook has supplied his Great State, in which his solid Sinological scholarship is complemented by a very effective use of maps...to illustrate his uncontroversial depiction of China as entangled in world affairs since early antiquity, but also his unconventional view of the true origins of today’s Chinese state ... When it comes to assessing Brook’s fundamental thesis, there are exceptions to every bold conclusion that one might reach.
