Kenneth Swope presents his readers with a powerful epic narrative of the great ordeal of Southwest China during the Ming–Qing transition. The protagonist of this epic is Zhang Xianzhong, the infamous rebel leader of the late Ming, who “like other great villains in history … continues to fascinate” (2, 310). Zhang perishes halfway through the narrative, and the story continues with his adopted sons and is brought to an end by the Qing conquerors.

The book is divided into nine chapters. Chapter One serves as the introduction, presenting the theme and outlining the structure of the book. Swope wants to offer “an extended examination of the military dimensions of the Qing conquest of the southwest … from the perspective of Zhang Xianzhong and his four adopted sons” (13–14). In the three chapters that follow, Swope reconstructs the life of Zhang Xianzhong amid the seventeenth-century crisis that was to lead to the decline and fall of the Ming. At the end of Chapter Four, almost in the middle of the book, Zhang Xianzhong dies, leaving a legacy of insane mass-murder. The Southwestern epic of the Southern Ming was to unfold further. Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo, two of Zhang's adopted sons, assume the role of protagonists in Chapters Five to Seven, where they meet their fate together with the Yongli Court. Chapter Eight, the shortest chapter of the book (14 pages), finishes the history of “the Ming peasant rebellion that had started thirty years earlier in Shaanxi” with the “defeat of Li Laiheng and the Kuidong 13” (290).

The last chapter, “The Rhetoric of Catastrophe,” is an interesting deviation from the political and military history on display in the rest of the book. As the chapter title suggests, it explores ways in which people wrote about the Zhang Xianzong legacy and made sense of the Ming–Qing transition. Turning from battles and palace intrigues, Swope scrutinizes numerous accounts of the Ming–Qing transition from the perspective of the “rhetoric of catastrophe.” This rhetoric includes the image of the tiger, miserable accounts of famine, the trope of cannibalism, and stories of ghosts. These elements are “found in virtually all the previous dynastic transitions,” but accounts of the Ming–Qing transition “add dimensions peculiar to that place and time” (309). This analysis is a testimony to Swope's enthusiasm for engaging various theories and approaches beyond traditional historiography.

This book is well structured and colorful. For instance, the section titled “Yongli Hits the Road” (158) is itself enough to give readers a certain amount of Schadenfreude as Yongli did excel in the art of “royal” fleeing. Such cowardice certainly did not enhance the Southern Ming cause. Swope highlights the presence of two Jesuit missionaries in the shadow of Zhang Xianzhong and uses their accounts to evaluate Zhang's state of mind (82–85). This serves to remind readers of China's global connections even at this early date. Incidentally, one of the two Jesuits, Gabriel de Magalhães (or Magaillans),Footnote ¹ has been spelled as “Magalhaens” throughout the book. Magalhães would be the preferable spelling.

In some places, secondary works seem to have been given too much weight at the expense of primary sources. For instance, in explaining Zhang Xianzhong's nickname “Yellow Tiger,” Swope quotes Zhang Hongjie's Daming wangchao de qi zhang miankong: “allegedly because of his appearance and thunderous voice” (19). Zhang Hongjie's book, first published in 2006, is a good read for the general public, full of moralizing and literary imagination. However, for scholars accustomed to writing and reading works heavily buttressed with notes and bibliography, it seems better to treat works like Zhang Hongjie's with some scholarly wariness. In fact, as far as Zhang Xianzhong's nickname is concerned, a more authoritative explanation is readily available in Mingshi: “Xianzhong has a sallow face, is tall, and has a tiger's chin. People call him ‘Yellow Tiger’” (獻忠黃面長身虎頷，人號黃虎).Footnote ² It is also a pity that the Mingshilu 明實錄 (Veritable Record of Ming) is not used. The digital version developed by the Academic Sinica (http://hanji.sinica.edu.tw/) has made this valuable source easily searchable and accessible.

The so-called “Rongyang Conclave” by major rebel leaders in early 1635 (xvii, 28) needs to be addressed with care. Firstly, “Rongyang” is an error for “Xingyang 滎陽.” Second and more importantly, Gu Cheng 顧誠 has concluded that the Xingyang Conclave simply did not happen. According to Gu, it was a mistake made by Wu Weiye 吳偉業 in his Suikou jilue 綏寇紀略, and perpetuated by Mingshi, the official history compiled by the Qing government. Wu Weiye claimed that major rebel leaders got wind of the Ming government's plan for a large-scale military offensive and therefore held a conclave in Xingyang to work out a counter-strategy. Gu Cheng examines Ming government archives and concludes that the Ming government did work out a plan, but that this happened after, not before the date of the Xingyang Conclave.Footnote ³ Gu Cheng's work is also open to criticism. Wu Weiye's Suikouo jilue 綏寇紀略, being a work of private history, could be easily excused for including erroneous dates and places. However, since it so happened that the major rebels were gathering in Henan, in the center of the Ming proper, they did not have to be exceedingly smart to realize the danger of being encircled by government forces and the need for strategic coordination. Whether or not they knew that Beijing was preparing a new round of attack, it was fairly reasonable that they met and discussed what to do next. In any case, since Swope has mentioned the Xingyang Conclave, some reference to Gu Cheng's view would have been in order.

In any case, this book is a welcome and timely contribution to the studies of both the Ming–Qing transition and seventeenth-century global history. Finally, a note on notes. The importance of annotation and biography in scholarly is indisputable. Moving all notes to the rear of the book seriously compromises the pleasure of academic reading. The footnote format is much preferred.