Wordsworth Classics of World Literature: The Art of War / The Book of Lord Shang

The two political works in this text are the product of a time of intense turmoil in Chinese history. Dating from an epoch in Chinese history known as the “Period of the Warring States” (4003 – 221 BC), they anticipate by nearly 2000 years Niccolo Machiavellis treatises on the same subjects. Translated by Yuan Shibing and J.J.L.Duyvendak. With introductions by Robert Wilkinson. The two political classics in this book are the product of a time of intense turmoil in Chinese history. Dating from the Period of the Warring States (403-221BC), they anticipate Machiavellis The Prince by nearly 2000 years. The Art of War is the best known of a considerable body of Chinese works on the subject. It analyses the nature of war, and reveals how victory may be ensured. The Book of Lord Shang is a political treatise for the instruction of rulers. These texts are anything but armchair strategy or ivory-tower speculation. They are serious, urgent and practical responses to the desperate situations in which they were written. They have been immensely influential both inside and outside China.