Linda Walton is Professor Emerita at Portland State University.

• Introduction: Middle Imperial China in East Asian and world History; 1. The turbulent tenth century: transforming the East Asian world; 2. Song in a multipolar world; 3. Schooling, state, and society in song and Jin; 4. An economic revolution?; 5. Cities and urban life; 6. Religious transformations; 7. Ways of knowing: learning and knowledge; 8. The arts of culture; 9. Gendered and generational lives: women, men, children and families; 10. Mapping the built and natural environment; 11. Sustaining life and healing bodies: food and medicine; 12. The Mongol Yuan dynasty in China; 13. Yuan China in the Mongol Eurasian Empire.

'Middle Imperial China, 900-1350 is an erudite and accessible addition to the historical literature on Middle Period China. Professor Walton presents us with a multipolar world in which the Song dynasty was challenged by its powerful neighbors to the north and west and finally succumbed to the Mongols, whose Yuan dynasty also receives generous treatment at the end. The book's topical chapters on developments in the economy, society, cities, learning, thought, religion, the arts, women, and the built environment represent an impressive synthesis of the scholarship on these varied topics. As an excellent introduction into the history of this important period, this will be welcomed by specialists and non-specialists alike.' John W. Chaffee, Binghamton University