The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams, and the Making of Modern China

This "crisp and readable account" of the nineteenth century British campaign sheds light on modern Chinese identity through "a heartbreaking story of war" (The Wall Street Journal).

In October 1839, a Windsor cabinet meeting voted to begin the first Opium War against China. Bureaucratic fumbling, military missteps, and a healthy dose of political opportunism and collaboration followed. Rich in tragicomedy, The Opium War explores the disastrous British foreign-relations move that became a fo...