A Brief History of the Boxer Rebellion: China’s War on Foreigners

In the last years of the nineteenth century, the Western powers were bickering over how to slice up the pie of China, while the presence they had already established was undermining the Chinese people's traditional ways. Then a new movement began to spread like wildfire among Chinese peasants. The contemptuous foreigners nicknamed them "the Boxers" -- a snickering reference to their martial-arts routines -- never imagining that the group, with the backing of China's Empress Dowager, would soon terrorize the world. Based on diaries, memoirs, and extensive research, this is a book is a fast paced and exciting narrative that skillfully captures the human interest, folly, irony, and the tragedy of this historic upheaval. [Back cover]