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2mentions
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What Hacker News says
- Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom by Stephen Platt is a fantastic popular history of the Taiping Rebellion. He's especially good on covering the weathervaning western attitude towards something that was initially believed to be a sort of Christian holy war. The whole book is super interesting reading even if you have zero background in Chinese history.
- These are not 1000 page books (but combined they can be):
- God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan (more about the Taiping and their leader)
- Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War (more about the west's actions)
I just saw this book on Amazon and haven't read so might be a good read to round out the history: Struggle for Empire: The Battles of General Zuo Zongtang (Qing statesman and army officer, General Tso's chicken was named after him!)
Overall, I would say good English material on this conflict is a bit thin. I would recommend reading more about the Qing dynasty, Opium wars, first Sino Japanese war, Boxer Rebellion, Xinhai Revolution. /r/askhistorians always have good books recommendation.
