Published in Asian Review of Books (November 2026)
Craig Clunas, Sons of Heaven: Family and Dynasty in Ming China (Reaktion 2026)
[…] The popular Ming histories, scandalous tales, unverifiable sources, and modern retellings that first caught my attention offered the pleasures of knowing everyone’s business. Clunas makes me less certain that we do. What, after all, becomes of love when the family is also the state? The evidence may not permit an answer. As Clunas reminds us, “writing has its silences and its exclusions too.”

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