Author: John W. Dardess

This engaging, deeply informed book provides the first concise history of one of Chinas most important eras. Leading scholar John W. Dardess offers a thematically organized political, social, and eco …

This fascinating history uncovers the hidden political world of Ming China, exploring how the most powerful man in mid-sixteenth-century China steered the empire through the worst crises it had ever …

This important contribution to imperial Chinese history illuminates the basic concerns of the Ming state. Eminent scholar John W. Dardess shows in fascinating detail how Emperor Jiajing and his grand …

This groundbreaking book provides the first comprehensive analysis of Ming China’s pursuit of national security along its 1, 700 miles of northern frontier. Drawing on a wealth of original sources, J …

Confucianism and Autocracy: Professional Elites in the Founding of the Ming Dynasty explores the profound social and political transformations that shaped China during the collapse of the Yuan dynast …

John Dardess has selected a region of great political and intellectual importance, but one which local history has left almost untouched, for this detailed social history of T’ai-ho county during the …