The Eagle and the Dragon: Globalization and European Dreams of Conquest in China and America in the Sixteenth Century: Serge Gruzinski
This book is a very interesting comparison of the simultaneous Iberian encounters with Mexico and China during the age of European exploration. Gruzinski seeks to explore why the Iberians were able to conquer the Mexicans but failed to even make headway in China, and he does this by exploring the perspective from both sides of the coin, though there is a bit more information on the Chinese than the Mexican, most likely because of a scarcity of sources. This is a great book on which to base a world history class that, while shaped in pat by European actions, equally presents the viewpoint of non-Western actors. Can’t wait to bring the arguments and information in this book before my students and see how they react.
