Crafting a Collection bypasses the standard generic approach to the song lyric (ci) that traces the genre's maturation to the Song and instead delves into an exhaustive cultural and literary history of the Huajian ji, the earliest extant anthology and landmark of the genre. By discerning the interactions between the socio-political landscape and literary practices in the tenth-century Shu Kingdom, Shields effectively illustrates how a new style of ci came to fruition, achieving a remarkable balance between readability and scholarly detail in the process.

After the Introduction, the book is divided into two parts with three chapters each. Part I sets the cultural stage by examining developments of the song lyric in the late Tang (Chapter 1) and the Shu Kingdom (Chapter 2) and the anthologizing practices of the period (Chapter 3). Shields perceives the Huajian ji style as originating within the romantic literature of the late Tang, which was being shaped by popular musical entertainments and courtesan culture. Although relatively few ci are extant from the Tang, Shields argues that this may merely reflect contemporary preservation practices rather than the frequency of ci composition. In the Tang, a young scholar might compose ci during visits to the entertainment quarters, but there were few incentives to preserve those compositions once his official career was established. Within the shifting political sphere of the Five Dynasties, however, the rulers of Shu began to appoint and reward men who displayed literary talent. In this context, Shields argues that ci could function as “cultural capital” (p. 68)—literary embodiments of an elite craft that merged neatly with the flourishing musical entertainments of the Former and Latter Shu. The majority of ci in the Huajian ji are attributed to poets who served the Former Shu, indicating motivation both to compose and preserve ci among officials. Furthermore, the anthology contains textual elements designed to promote ci composition as an elite cultural practice, including Ouyang Jiong's preface, which, as Shields cogently argues, was not intended to defend ci as a literary genre, as traditionally understood, but rather to defend ci composition as a refined activity within the Shu court.

In Part II, Shields offers a unique investigation into the innovative poetic practices that molded the Huajian ji into an expression of elite culture. Her close readings take the productive approach of examining sets of ci written by different poets to the same tune title in order to reveal the poetic borrowings between them. Chapter 4 identifies the novel formal elements within the anthology and demonstrates the range of poetic imitation by comparing ci written to the well-known “Pusa man” tune pattern. Chapter 5 provides a seminal analysis of how male poets manipulated gender and voice to enhance the genre's performative range and in the process altered the status of ci within literary orthodoxy. Ci adopting a first person male persona establish an elite identity for the speaker and give the impression of an authentic voice, essential to the orthodox dictates of shi poetry. In contrast to tradition, however, ci in the male voice overturn the gendered conventions of the romantic storyline, as the male performs the role of the hopeless lover. The reversal of gender roles is further elaborated in the analysis of tune titles on Daoist themes (Chapter 6), which often muse on the theme of a mortal man pursuing a divine goddess. By reading these Daoist lyrics within the conventions of the Huajian ji, Shields successfully illustrates the subordination of Daoist allusions to the romantic interests of the collection.

The correlations between literary taste and socio-political aspirations are well articulated within the commentaries throughout Part II. Shields notes the dual function of poetic imitation as “both homage and self-promotion” (p. 220), the concerns with both performance and orthodoxy in choice of voice and gender (Chapter 5), and the resonance of Daoist themes within Tang literary culture and Shu regional interest (Chapter 6). However, Shields could have further elaborated upon the relationship between the two halves of her study—literary preference and cultural context—within the “Conclusion,” which instead focuses on Huajian ji's literary reception. The main thrusts of her close readings in Part II could also have been developed more systematically. In Chapter 5, for example, rather than provide commentary on interrelated issues through a series of close readings, Shields could have framed her readings around distinct arguments on such topics as performative context and literary legitimacy in order to further elucidate the cultural implications of particular shifts in voice and gender. These minor critiques aside, Shields has produced a highly pertinent and erudite account of the cultural background of the Huajian ji and its innovative stylistic traits. It is a welcome contribution to scholarship on the specialized field of ci studies.