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Also by Eric Jay Dolin:

When America First Met China, September 2012
Hardcover / e-Book
Fur, Fortune, And Empire, July 2010
Hardcover
Leviathan, July 2007
Hardcover

WHEN AMERICA FIRST MET CHINA
By: Eric Jay Dolin

Liveright
September 2012
On Sale: September 10, 2012
416 pages
ISBN: 0871404338
EAN: 9780871404336
Kindle: B007Q6XLZC
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction History

Brilliantly illuminating one of the least-understood areas of American history, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin now traces our fraught relationship with China back to its roots: the unforgiving nineteenth-century seas that separated a brash, rising naval power from a battered ancient empire. It is a prescient fable for our time, one that surprisingly continues to shed light on our modern relationship with China. Indeed, the furious trade in furs, opium, and bêche-de-mer—a rare sea cucumber delicacy—might have catalyzed America’s emerging economy, but it also sparked an ecological and human rights catastrophe of such epic proportions that the reverberations can still be felt today. Peopled with fascinating characters—from the “Financier of the Revolution” Robert Morris to the Chinese emperor Qianlong, who considered foreigners inferior beings—this page-turning saga of pirates and politicians, coolies and concubines becomes a must-read for any fan of Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower or Mark Kurlansky’s Cod.

Media Buzz

All Things Considered - September 30, 2012
On Point - September 10, 2012