Choice 評論

Unlike other studies that concentrate on the additions to knowledge made by archaeological finds, the authors of this work combine archaeological data with material from the few surviving literary texts of the period to produce the most comprehensive survey to date of Western Chou life and times. A discussion of the Chou state and people before their conquest of Shang China is followed by a history of the Western Chou dynasty, featuring the establishment of Chou rule, the nature of their government, Chou feudalism, and the expansion of the dynasty's territorial control. Chapters on arts and crafts and on daily life complete the work. The authors stress that the Western Chou rulers not only transformed Chinese rule from the personal, aristocratic Shang style to a more formalized, bureaucratic structure, but that they also, through the Mandate of Heaven doctrine, created Chinese rational humanism. Maps; copious, but poorly captioned illustrations. General and academic readership. Upper-division undergraduate level and above. -L. J. Bilsky, University of Arkansas at Little Rock