"…draws welcome attention to a central but still enigmatic figure in Chinese intellectual history. The author is to be commended for working across literary, historical, and philosophical boundaries in shedding light on Li Zhi's historical significance and intellectual legacy. By recovering Li Zhi from the (sometimes contradictory) modernist readings to which he has heretofore been subjected, this book opens the way to a new intellectual history of the late Ming era." — Philosophy East & West"…refreshing and insightful … This book is beyond a doubt a very important contribution to the studies of the history of Chinese philosophy and intellectual culture, especially for its invitation to avoid stereotypes in its understanding." — Acta Orientalia Vilnensia"This is a fascinating book. Lee has a great talent for intellectual biography and a cogent explanation of the complicated philosophical vision of a major late-Ming Confucian thinker." — John H. Berthrong, author of Expanding Process: Exploring Philosophical and Theological Transformations in China and the West