The Opium War of 1839-42, the first military conflict to take place between China and the West, is a subject of enduring interest. Mao Haijian, one of the most distinguished and well-known historians working in China, presents the culmination of more than ten years of research in a revisionist reading of the conflict and its main Chinese protagonists. Mao examines the Qing participants in terms of the moral standards and intellectual norms of their own time, demonstrating that actions which have struck later observers as ridiculous can be understood as reasonable within these individuals' own context. This English-language translation of Mao's work offers a comprehensive response to the question of why the Qing Empire was so badly defeated by the British in the first Opium War - an answer that is distinctive and original within both Chinese and Western historiography, and supported by a wealth of hitherto unknown detail.

2003年，沙尘暴从内蒙古横袭整个中国大陆。 2004年，南亚大海啸夺走22万条人命。 2005年，卡特里娜飓风侵袭美国新奥尔良引发世纪大迁徒。 21××年，地球村大崩溃？ 为什么复活节岛人能竖起令人惊叹的巨石人像，却无法避免森林殆尽，物种灭绝的命运？为什么同样是生活在格陵兰岛上，中世纪的维京社会渐渐走向消亡，而当地的因纽特人却延存至今？ 今天，一些人类社会也因面临类似的问题而生灵涂炭、家园残破，就像卢旺达和海地发生的悲剧；即使那风景如画、人间天堂般的美国蒙大拿州，也早已危机四伏。面对这一切，我们该如何抉择，才能避免自己走上崩溃之路？ 《崩溃(社会如何选择成败兴亡)》为戴蒙德继《枪炮、病菌与钢铁》后的又一巨制，格局宏大、鞭辟入里，多有对文明悲剧的忧患之思，可谓是21世纪全人类的求生之书。