This volume is an important addition to any library for those who are serious students of Chinese History. The writing, as with all volumes in this series, is extremely dry and monotonous. Thus, unless one is heavily invested in such histories, it would not provide interesting reading. The most serious gaff, however, is the editors continued use of Wade-Giles for Chinese language and name translation. There is no excuse for this. Anyone who is serious enough to read these volumes would have to have made the transition to Pinyin some time ago. That the editors refuse to adapt might be an indication of their own biases. If the writing were more entertaining (- one star) and if the editors had used Pinyin (- one star), the book could have reached a five-star rating.