The History Department congratulates professor Patricia Ebrey on her recent Award for Scholarly Distinction from the American Historical Association for her contributions as "the premier historian of Chinese women during the millennium-plus of the early and middle empire." The AHA explains, "due to Professor Ebrey's work, "various topics that were once 'unteachable' for lack of either sources or scholarship in English are now routinely covered. The past is a bigger and a less foreign country thanks to Pat Ebrey."
Professor Ebrey's latest book, Emperor Huizong (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2014), about the Chinese emperor who lived from 1082 to 1135 and ruled for 26 years during China's Song Dynasty, was recently selected as one of the "books of the year" by The Spectator writer Jonathan Mirsky. Mirsky praises the book as " a supreme example of meticulous scholarship and eloquence."
UW Today recently published an interview with Professor Ebrey in which she discusses the contents of book and her reasons for writing. In the interview she explains how the vehicle of biography can serve as an accessible entry point for readers who may be unfamiliar with a particular time and place. She explains "I did not write this book only for people who have already heard of Huizong. I think that viewing the world from one person's perspective is an excellent way to get into an age and a place. To draw in readers relatively unfamiliar with Song China, I provide background on everything from political factionalism to poetry as an element of court culture." To read the full interview, click here.