Mysteriarch reviewed Penguin History of Modern China by Jonathan Fenby
Disappointing
2 stars
This history books leaves a lot to be desired. Fenby seems to lack a respect for his subject that you'd expect from a historian - even a highly critical one. In the epilogue he says "as I've argued in this book" but that's exactly the problem: he doesn't really argue any points, he just posits them. He draws comparisons between the imperial era events and the later ones during the communist period without any reasoning. He makes value claims without clarifying or without contextualising in a larger, world-historical view. It's clear he has an utter dislike of the communists, which I don't mind, but this together with his lack of argumentation results in a rather myopic approach without much room for nuance or actual understanding of Chinese society except for the bare facts. Something I also missed was at least one chapter dedicated to KMT ruled Taiwan after their retreat. …
This history books leaves a lot to be desired. Fenby seems to lack a respect for his subject that you'd expect from a historian - even a highly critical one. In the epilogue he says "as I've argued in this book" but that's exactly the problem: he doesn't really argue any points, he just posits them. He draws comparisons between the imperial era events and the later ones during the communist period without any reasoning. He makes value claims without clarifying or without contextualising in a larger, world-historical view. It's clear he has an utter dislike of the communists, which I don't mind, but this together with his lack of argumentation results in a rather myopic approach without much room for nuance or actual understanding of Chinese society except for the bare facts. Something I also missed was at least one chapter dedicated to KMT ruled Taiwan after their retreat. It only gets mentioned again in a few passing paragraphs. All in all a very disappointing book.