'Historical writing at its best, a brilliant and very readable account.' The Asia Society

• List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; Note on romanization; 1. Introduction: what is the Great Wall of China?; Part I. First Considerations: 2. Early Chinese walls; 3. Strategic origins of Chinese walls; Part II. The Making of the Great Wall: 4. Geography and strategy: the importance of the Ordos; 5. Security without walls: early Ming strategy and its collapse; 6. Toward a new strategy: the Ordos crisis and the first walls; 7. Politics and military policy at the turn of the sixteenth century; 8. The second debate over the Ordos; 9. The heyday of wall-building; Part III. The Significance of Wall-Building: 10. The Great Wall and foreign policy: the problem of compromise; 11. The Wall acquires new meanings; Notes; Bibliography; Chinese and Japanese materials; Western materials; Glossary; Index.

'Historical writing at its best, a brilliant and very readable account.' The Asia Society

• List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; Note on romanization; 1. Introduction: what is the Great Wall of China?; Part I. First Considerations: 2. Early Chinese walls; 3. Strategic origins of Chinese walls; Part II. The Making of the Great Wall: 4. Geography and strategy: the importance of the Ordos; 5. Security without walls: early Ming strategy and its collapse; 6. Toward a new strategy: the Ordos crisis and the first walls; 7. Politics and military policy at the turn of the sixteenth century; 8. The second debate over the Ordos; 9. The heyday of wall-building; Part III. The Significance of Wall-Building: 10. The Great Wall and foreign policy: the problem of compromise; 11. The Wall acquires new meanings; Notes; Bibliography; Chinese and Japanese materials; Western materials; Glossary; Index.