AUTUMN IN THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War

This account provides a riveting account of the nineteenth-century Taiping Revolution in China, which cost the country 20 million people. When the United States and Great Britain sided with the Qin rulers against the revolutionaries, it set China on a historical course that is still influencing the country’s leaders. Narrator Angela Lin keeps the story moving with her vocal clarity and excellent pacing, and she’s adept at pronouncing the Chinese names. However, she often sounds loud and breathless—as if every sentence carries a vital piece of information—a style that grows tiresome over the course of the book. Listeners would have been better served if she had saved her vigor for select passages, thereby focusing attention on what’s truly important. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2012]