Waley, Arthur. The Opium War through Chinese Eyes. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1958. Print.

The book I chose for this shelfie is The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes, written by Arthur Waley. I found this book using the search term “opium war” in the library catalog, although I was looking for more information through a different perspective. In class we discussed what the Opium War meant for global trade, but history is often written from the perspective of the “winner.” For this reason, I chose to look for a book that would give more insight into the Chinese experience of the Opium War. The title of this book stood out to me as an opportunity to do just that. Waley begins with an edited version of Comissioner Lin’s diary from 1839-41. In the diary, Lin discusses opium within the context of his multiple occupations and interests. Waley continues the book by talking about the events during war-time from the perspective of Chinese men. He also provides many interesting insights into Chinese-British relationships. I found this book in a shelf full of books on the Opium War; looking through these books may also provide more perspectives on the war that is not achievable from just the Empires textbook.