"Cixi's extraordinary story has all the elements of a good fairy tale: bizarre, sinister, triumphant and terrible." --The Economist

"A truly authoritative account of Cixi's rule. Her story is both important and evocative." --Orville Schell, The New York Times Book Review

"A fantastic Machiavellian tale. . . . Dives into a genuinely fascinating figure: a fierce imperial consort who ruled behind the thrones of two successive Chinese emperors and helped ease China into the twentieth century." --New York magazine

"Certain to become the standard by which all future biographies of the Dowager Empress are measured." --The Daily Beast

"Jung Chang has written a pathbreaking and generally persuasive book." --The New York Review of Books

"If there is one woman who mattered in the history of modern China, it is the empress dowager Cixi. . . . [Her] conventional image is queried in this detailed and beautifully narrated biography, which at long last restores the empress dowager to her rightful place." --The Sunday Times (London)

"Sets out to rehabilitate the reputation of a woman who, [Chang] argues, helped modernize China. . . . While Chang acknowledges Cixi's missteps--such as allowing the Boxers to fight against a Western invasion, which led to widespread slaughter--she sees her as a woman whose energy, farsightedness, and ruthless pragmatism transformed a country." --The New Yorker

"[An] authoritative and epic biography." --The Toronto Star

"Well-researched and provocative. . . . Cixi deserves to be remembered and this book is to be welcomed for giving an important figure in Chinese history the prominence she deserves. . . . This spirited biography reminds us that a greater female presence might be a trigger for much-needed political change." --New Statesman

"Fascinating. . . . Wonderfully illuminating. . . . Jung Chang's new book gives the infamous concubine Cixi her due." --The Spectator

"This is a rich, dramatic story of rebellions, battles, plotting, rivalry, foreign invasion, punishment and forbidden love. . . . [Chang] uses new evidence and meticulous research to cast a spotlight on the amazing woman she regards as the mother of modern China." --Daily Mail

"Corrects a longstanding misconception about a woman whose impact on China can't be overstated. It's a fascinating look at power, politics and the gender divide." --BookPage

"A rich and fascinating book that never relaxes its hold on the reader despite the marshalling of a mass of complex historical details seen through the prism of Cixi." --The New York Journal of Books