I'll make this short...For anyone interested in Chinese history, literature, or culture, this volume is an absolutely essential collection of primary sources, and includes prefaces and explanations by China scholars. There is no one better than de Bary, and this new edition includes everything from the 1960 edition up through the Jiang Zemin era.

I've read a little of this and that about Chinese history and religion, and I needed a book to fill in the basics and the details. This was perfect.

First, the selections included excerpts of almost everything I'd ever heard of: Shang Oracle Bones, the Analects of Confucius and the Confucian classics including the I Ching; Mozi; the Tao Te Ching; Zhuangzi (who famously dreamed that he was a butterfly); Mencius; Xunzi; the Zuozhuan; Sun Tzu's art of war; all kinds of stuff about Chinese schools of Buddhism including the Lotus Sutra and the Flower Garden Sutra and the history of Guanyin and Wutai Shan; Li Po (Li Bo) and Tu Fu (Du Fu); and neo-Confucianism (which was so influential in Korea). In short, this is really, practically the "Eatern Canon" and the selections are deserving of such a label. I was in turns morally and intellectually challenged, uplifted, informed and surprised; but rarely bored and never disappointed.

Second, the introductory essays were exactly what I wanted to know: who might have written it, and when, and who read, and what it meant to them. For all that information, they were still brief and the bibliography was sufficient to help me chase the points that left me curious. An important thing these essays did was to cover the political, historical and social backgrounds (and foregrounds) of the texts, so I learned about Chinese history as well as literature and religion. If that is what you want to do, this book will serve you well.

The binding is excellent, and while the price might look steep I have to say it's a bargain considering what you get.

I didn't read Volume Two, and so I don't know if it is as good. It is certainly a lot smaller!

This second edition of a classic provides an update on a reference recommended for college-level collections specializing in Chinese literature. Sources of Chinese Tradition has been recognized already as a scholarly staple: in its new form Sources of Chinese Tradition has been extended to include the Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin eras of China and includes invaluable source readings on history and literature of the times, from the 18th-century Qing civilization onward.

Gives McSweeney's a run for thier money. I am now eagerly awaiting works from several of these contributers.

It is one of the greatest books of all times. While the human race is being pushed even more into emotional savagery by the pseudo-intellectuals and false gurus, this book courageously discusses the divine enlightenment possible through rational thought.

I am a sophomore in highschool taking an AP class with this book. It has a lot of information, which I guess is a good thing if you are reading this for your own personal gain rather than being tested on it. However, it is so dense that it is difficult to pick up key ideas. Every piece of information is important on some level, and the tests I take, which my teacher got along with this book, also treat every fact as important. I wouldn't mind reading this book if I wasn't expected to have a photographic memory but it just doesn't do a good job of helping me understand key ideas in history. Well, if you have to read this in your history class I hope you have a good teacher to guide you along in the reading. Otherwise.... I hope your memory is better than mine!!

Excellent book for senior high school-college-undergraduate studies, covering the broad field of world history. The text is structured in such a manner as to suit both brief studies of various areas and times, as well as more in depth, long term programs. A fascinating assortment of primary source excerpts have been included, from earliest human societies to issues facing humanity in the contemporary period. Though the text has a slight Western emphasis, it covers non-Western civilisations quite well.

Be prepared though for extensive reading. The complete set is very large, but shouldn't be an obstacle for those with a passion for both general and obscure history!

I bought this book because of my high opinion of two of the authors, Headrick and Crossley. The approach is extremely good, but there are great weaknesses in coverage of the histories of the United States, Russia, and China. This is a very useful reference work on modern history, and there are many absorbing chapters. But it can't be used without additional reading --add Geoffrey Freeze on Russia, Immanuel Hsu on modern China, and Edmund Morgan on the U.S.