"The Boxer Rebellion is a panoramic chronicle of the uprising and ensuing two-month siege of the eleven foreign ministries in Peking (now Beijing), and of the foreign community in Tientsin (now Tianjin), during the summer of 1900 - the repercussions of which have echoed throughout the intervening century. It left tens of thousands of Chinese dead, precipitated the end of dynastic rule in China, and has tainted China's relationship with the wider world to this day. It is also a richly human story.". "Relying on the diaries, letters, and memoirs of the defenders, and on her own extensive research from both Chinese and Western perspectives, Diana Preston portrays the dramatic human experience of the Boxer rising."--BOOK JACKET.