Voices from the Ming-Qing Cataclysm

I picked the book, Voices from the Ming-Qing Cataclysm edited by Lynn Struve, up from half price books after originally seeing it in the library and I'm so glad I did. It's full of translated first person accounts of the events that went down when the Manchus came down and started their dynasty. It has some truly amazing accounts in it. The Massacre at Yangzhou was the most horrific, a man and his family on the run for their lives trying to hide anywhere they can and everywhere just being filled with bodies or other people trying to hide, it beats the crap out of any zombie movie for sheer horror. There are tales of amazing journeys that people made through the war torn countryside looking for loved ones and trying to escape the madness. The book puts everything in chronological order so you get a glimpse of the order the events took place in as well as seeing first hand their impact on people's lives. There are also accounts by westerners; missionary's and merchant's. One of the more interesting pieces towards the end is interposed commentary on the battle for Taiwan between rebel ming loyalist forces and the Dutch East India company. There is also a letter from the Empress Dowager who had converted to Christianity pleading with the Pope, very interesting stuff. It's so rare to find books full of lovely first hand source material translated into English so well. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested in this time period, or indeed interested in how horror and disaster effects people.