Taiwan Lives

Niki J. P. Alsford is professor of Asia Pacific studies and head of Asia Pacific Institutes at the University of Central Lancashire. He is author of Transitions to Modernity in Taiwan: The Spirit of 1895 and the Cession of Formosa to Japan.

"Presents Taiwan in a unique, multifaceted fashion."(Taipei Times) "Widely read, this book can bring more nuance to popular western representations of Taiwan, which remain narrowly defined by sovereignty and security, and well-meaning but reductive platitudes about Taiwan's democracy. An appreciation for Taiwan's complexities – beyond the esoterica of international law and foreign relations – is seldom available to readers of English in such an accessible and enjoyable form."(International Journal of Social History) "Alsford's book should be commended for its nuanced and in-depth illustration of Taiwanese agency, history, and the Taiwanese quest for freedom, recognition, and identity. It should also be praised for its interpretative framework of multilayered colonialism and its biographic structure that takes a deep dive of major historiographical issues through intimate life stories, an effective narrative strategy to get the readers emotionally invested."(Chinese Studies International)