【本书看点】
★暴虐、弑父、篡位、烝母、亡国，炀帝是古来少有的暴君。
★修长城、凿运河、建东都、巡西域，炀帝的功过该如何评估？
★美国著名华裔历史学家熊存瑞，以史、佛、道、文等文献为基础，集中、西、日多家之言，旨在抛开偏见，置个人传记于历史长河之中，用西方性格研究法来重新探讨隋炀帝及其统治。
★作者学术积淀深厚、才思敏捷，译者翻译准确、专业，文笔流畅生动，读来令人欲罢不能。
★装帧精美，收藏阅读两相宜。知名书法家、历史学家厦门大学侯真平教授书名题签，潇洒大气；高阶映画封面，质朴舒适；深沉黑星雨内封，精致低调；象牙白内文纸，复古护眼；裸背锁线，可实现180度平摊。
【内容简介】
本书采用杂糅式的手法，既研究炀帝本身，又讨论其所生活的时代。全书由两部分组成。第一部分在介绍杨氏家族和炀帝的父亲（隋文帝杨坚）的发迹过程之后，记述了炀帝从少年到王子、从皇储到皇帝的生活轨迹。第二部分从多个层面讨论了炀帝和他统治下的王朝；其内容包括大兴土木、文官制度、军队管理、教育、礼制、法律、宗教、经济政策、对外关系等。结语部分则对炀帝的历史地位进行分析，重新审视炀帝的生平、他所生活的时代以及他留给后世的遗产。
【推荐】
历史学家将从本书丰富的史料中受益，熊存瑞很好地解释了早期日本和古老中华帝国之间的“第一次接触”。
——《宗教研究评论》（Religious Studies Review）
中国传统的历史学家通常谴责隋炀帝，但作者却更胜一筹，他超越了谩骂，进而揭示隋炀帝的个人经历、政策和功绩。本书作为这一研究的成果，将改变中西方历史学家对隋朝和隋朝对中国历史重要性的认识。
——蔡涵墨（Charles Hartman，美国纽约州立大学东亚系教授）
本书的问世标志着对中国历史上一段关键时期的研究进入了新阶段，熊存瑞的研究对于研究隋朝历史的人来说是不可忽视的。
——丁爱博（Albert E. Dien，美国斯坦福大学东亚系教授）

Looking at the life and legacy of Emperor Yang (569–618) of the brief Sui dynasty in a new light, this book presents a compelling case for his importance to Chinese history. Author Victor Cunrui Xiong utilizes traditional scholarship and secondary literature from China, Japan, and the West to go beyond the common perception of Emperor Yang as merely a profligate tyrant. Xiong accepts neither the traditional verdict against Emperor Yang nor the apologist effort to revise it, and instead offers a reassessment of Emperor Yang by exploring the larger political, economic, military, religious, and diplomatic contexts of Sui society. This reconstruction of the life of Emperor Yang reveals an astute visionary with literary, administrative, and reformist accomplishments. While a series of strategic blunders resulting from the darker side of his personality led to the collapse of the socioeconomic order and to his own death, the Sui legacy that Emperor Yang left behind lived on to provide the foundation for the rise of the Tang dynasty, the pinnacle of medieval Chinese civilization.
"This is a detailed study of a vital, yet (in English) virtually unknown, period of medieval Chinese history. Traditional Chinese historians usually castigate Emperor Yang, and the author has successfully cut through this invective to reveal much about the man, his policies, and his achievements. The result is a work that will change the way both Chinese and Western historians regard the Sui dynasty and its importance to overall Chinese history." — Charles Hartman, author of Han Yü and the T’ang Search for Unity
"This book marks a new phase in the study of this pivotal period in Chinese history, and what Xiong says here must be addressed by anyone who studies the Sui dynasty." — Albert E. Dien, editor of State and Society in Early Medieval China