Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom - by Stephen R Platt (Paperback)

Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom is a gripping account of China's nineteenth-century Taiping Rebellion, one of the largest civil wars in history.

This book provides an unforgettable portrait of the conflict that shaped the fate of modern China through vivid re-creations of massive and often gruesome battles.

The story begins with the spread of a revolution led by a failed civil servant who claimed to be the son of God and brother of Jesus, drawing power from the poor and disenfranchised against their Manchu rulers.

This book offers an essential and enthralling history of the rise and fall of the movement that might have launched China on an entirely different path into the modern world.