Li Shih-Min was a much revered emperor who helped found the Tang Dynasty, reigning in one of China's most powerful and prosperous eras (the second Chinese Golden Age, ca. 650AD-750AD).

It's a shame that this book has been out of print for some time. Very good book with in-depth material about the emporer and the Tang society from anecdotal, socio-economical, military, political, cultural, and international perspectives. It also gives us a good look at China's relations with its neighbors, especially the Turkic tribes across the Gobi Desert. It sheds some light about the eminently multi-cultural nature of the Chinese society of the era, when members of Central Asian ethnic groups were a part of the collective Chinese identity.

However the book suffers a little from lacking originality, as much of the material comes from an important Chinese history book of the 11th century (Zizhi Tonjien). I think the author could have injected some of his opinions, and given his interpretation of the material that is recorded in history. In many case, description of an event seems to have been translated verbatim, even if it appears somewhat euphemized. This is a stark contrast to the French historian Rene Groussette. Groussette, in his book on Chinese history, routinely compares aspects of Chinese history to that of the West (Jiin Dynasty was the "Chinese Byzantine").

Over all it's still a very worthwhile book, and especially this is the only English-language book available on this subject.