Empress Dowager Cixi

The Concubine Who Launched Modern China: Empress Dowager Cizi by Jung Chang. This is a nonfiction history of China at the end of the 19th century. It’s a fascinating story of how a lower concubine of the emperor became one of its greatest rulers in modern times, all behind a paper curtain. It’s a history of China; its relations with Japan, Korea, America, and the rest of the world; of the caste system of Hans and Manchus; and of how even in a culture where women had no power it was possible to be smart, strong, and leaders. —Mary Ellen Nunes, accounting technician, Alumni Relations.