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Title: Through the eyes of the besieged
Review: I had the chance to read the book while living in Beijing - which made me appreciate the last chapter (in which the author describes the current state of the legations in 1998) even more. The Boxer Rebellion is a wonderful tale of resilience, diplomacy and sometimes sheer luck. This is not an account of the boxer rebellion as a whole (maybe the British version title was better: 'Besieged in Peking'), but rather tries to capture the atmosphere of the fifty-five days that some say changed China and the world forever. The author only gives us the foreigners' perspective and we have very little information about the Boxers and the Imperial court. This helps the reader to feel for the ones trapped inside their walls, as they too had very little knowledge of what was going on in the outside world. This book is a wonderful read and I encourage anyone with a love for history (and historical anecdotes) to read it.
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