If you're seeking to extend your knowledge of Chinese history, you'll found a solid foundation in The Cambridge History of Ancient China, which covers China from prehistory down to the First Empire. With fourteen chapters by specialists, it presents a diversity of viewpoints and approaches, but without changes so frequent as to be disorienting. And it is not just a collection of disparate essays: a consistent style and spelling are maintained throughout, there is an integrated bibliography, and what overlap there is has obviously been coordinated. The Cambridge History of Ancient China does a good job of capturing regional variation and temporal depth (keeping in mind that an equivalent period in Mediterranean history would stretch from the Egyptian New Kingdom down to the Roman Empire) and the following summary does little justice to it.

An introduction touches briefly on historiography, the physical environment of ancient China, and calendar systems. A chapter by William Boltz provides background on language and writing (this was quite technical, but I found it comprehensible without much background in Chinese linguistics). And Kwang-chih Chang covers the prehistory of China, concentrating on the archaeological evidence but looking also at the debates over the historicity of the Xia dynasty.

The core of The Cambridge History of Ancient China uses the traditional Shang / Western Zhou / Spring and Autumn / Warring States chronological framework, with paired chapters on each of the periods, one covering material culture (archaeology and art) and the other more historical in approach. This provides an important historiographical and methodological balance. A chapter by Robert Bagley on "Shang archaeology", for example, tries to avoid the biases of traditional history, presenting a fascinating twenty page introduction to the archaeology of bronze metallurgy and using that to highlight the breadth of Chinese culture outside the Shang areas, in the Yangzi valley, Sichuan, and the north. In contrast to this, David Keightley's chapter on the Shang focuses on written inscriptions (bronzes and oracle bones) and what they tell us about politics, religion, and society in the nascent dynastic state.

The historical chapters generally avoid becoming enmeshed in the details of particular wars, successions, and the like, addressing instead larger scale social and administrative changes. Edward Shaughnessy probes the origins of the Western Zhou and their conquest of the Shang, then describes their subsequent history. Though cautious about the use of historical detail from later texts, he highlights the significance of Western Zhou political theory for subsequent Chinese historiography. Cho-yun Hsu describes the multi-state system that evolved in the Spring and Autumn period (with recognition of a shifting Ba or "senior state") and sketches its social, administrative, and economic developments. And for the Warring States period Mark Lewis focuses on the institutional and military development of the various states and their consolidation into progressively larger units, laying the groundwork for the imperial unification.

The chapters on material culture are longer than their historical counterparts, largely due
to the space taken up by illustrations. Jessica Rawson begins with a general introduction to Western Zhou archaeology, then proceeds from pre-Conquest Shaanxi (and the uncertainty about Zhou origins) down to the Ritual Revolution, providing details of key sites. Lothar von Falkenhausen covers late Bronze Age archaeology, describing finds from cemeteries and tombs in the different states and regional cultures. With more detailed information available, Wu Hung deals with Warring States art and architecture in a more systematic survey. Four chapters supplement these eight. Nicola Di Cosmo surveys the northern frontier area from Manchuria across to Xinjiang, covering the archaeological and historical record down to the development of pastoral nomadism and the first contacts between the Chinese core and a nomadic kingdom (the Xiongu empire) towards the end of the Warring States period. David Nivison presents a historical account of the classical philosophical schools and texts, in an approach which makes the relationships between the great philosophers clearer than more abstract presentations. Donald Harper uses excavated manuscripts to present a balanced view of Warring States occult thought and natural philosophy (astrology, divination, magic, medicine, and so forth), too often veiled behind the much better-known philosophical tradition and the later orthodoxy of Han yin-yang and five phases correlative cosmology. And Michael Loewe describes the legacy left to the Qin and Former Han empires: views of the past, religious and philosophical traditions, institutional and administrative systems, and other unifying strands (he also provides a general sketch of law and legal history, something not covered in other chapters).

I have only two minor complaints about The Cambridge History of Ancient China. It is well provided with half-tones (an essential part of the chapters on archaeology and art), but it badly needs more and better quality maps: you will find yourself floundering, especially with place names that don't appear in modern atlases. It is also too large and expensive a volume to be as widely read as it deserves. There are arguments for a single volume - I'm glad I had the chance to read it cover to cover - but if The Cambridge History of Ancient China were published as four or five separate paperback volumes it would be a better proposition for students interested in (say) Warring States occult thought but not Shang archaeology.

But all Cambridge History of China are consistently good, so I assume this to be as good too. If you don't want to sell your wedding ring as suggested by Bryan, there is another option: wait 5-10 years for the Chinese version to come out at the price of less than USD10!

For too long there has been no up-to-date, general historical introduction to ancient China. This book remedies that deficiency, and does so in a wonderful way!

The book is topically organized, with each chapter written by a leading scholar on that topic. The list of contributors reads like a "Who's Who" of contemporary Sinology: K.C. Chang on Chinese "pre-history"; David Keightley on the Shang Dynasty; Hsu Cho-yun on the Spring and Autumn Period; David Lewis on the Warring States Period; David S. Nivison (see his _The Ways of Confucianism_) on ancient Chinese philosophy, etc.

The general reader should be warned that the scholarship here is sometimes a little intimidating. However, careful reading will be well repaid. As you can see, the price is a real problem. Perhaps it will come out in paperback some day, but I wouldn't count on it happening any time soon.

If you are seriously interested in ancient China, hock your wedding ring and buy this book!

An overview covering geography, literature, government, written language, religion and daily practices. Contains numerous black and white sketches of both daily and funerary objects (which I recognized as renderings from other sources, rather than from the objects themselves). It does't go into a lot of detail, but it is enough to give you a general feel for the thought processes and customs of the period.

Really, I never thought to read a script before, but it is very interesting. It shows how the characters are moving so you can have a very clear picture in your head. I don't think I would but screenplays often, but it was fun to do it once!

The vocal selection sheet music for "Paint Your Wagon" is great for auditions and singing around the piano, but be advised, this is not the Broadway version. If you're looking for the additions that joined the score in the Clint Eastwood motion picture, this is your bag. However, if you're seeking to use "What's Goin' On Here", well it's not here. But a number of fantastic songs are, including "Wand'rin' Star", "I Still See Elisa" and "I Talk To the Tress". Also included are some of the new vocal editions like,"A Million Miles Away Behind the Door". In order of text appearance the vocal selections listed are: I'm On My Way, Gold Fever, I Still See Elisa, A Million Miles Away Behind the Door, Wand'rin' Star, The Gospel of the No Name City, I Talk To the Trees, Best Things, The First Thing You Know, and They Call the Wind Maria. The book also includes 3 full page sill photos from the motion picture. The music has vocal, bass and trebble clef charts as well as guitar chords.