Loewe, Michael 1922-

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Loewe, Michael 1922-

PERSONAL:

Born November 2, 1922, in Oxford, England; son of Herbert Martin James and Ethel Victoria Loewe. Education: Attended Magdalen College, Oxford, 1941; London School of Oriental and African Studies, London, B.A., 1951, Ph.D., 1962.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Willow House, Grantchester, Cambridge CB3 9NF, England.

CAREER:

University of London, London, England, lecturer in history of the Far East, 1956-63; Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, lecturer in Chinese studies, 1963-90; writer.

MEMBER:

American Academy of Arts and Sciences (foreign honorary member).

WRITINGS:

Imperial China: The Historical Background to the Modern Age, Praeger Publishers (Westport, CT), 1966.

Records of Han Administration, Volume 1: Historical Assessment, Volume 2: Documents, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1967.

Everyday Life in Early Imperial China during the Han Period, 202 BC-AD 220, illustrated by Eva Wilson, Putnam (New York, NY), 1968.

Crisis and Conflict in Han China, 104 BC to AD 9, Allen & Unwin (London, England), 1974.

(Editor, with Carmen Blacker) Ancient Cosmologies, Allen & Unwin (London, England), 1975.

Ways to Paradise: The Chinese Quest for Immortality, Allen & Unwin (London, England), 1979.

(Editor, with Carmen Blacker) Divination and Oracles, Allen & Unwin (London, England), 1981.

Chinese Ideas of Life and Death: Faith, Myth, and Reason in the Han Period (202 BC-AD 220), Allen & Unwin (London, England), 1982.

(Editor, with Denis Twichett) The Cambridge History of China, Volume 1: The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC-AD 220, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1986.

The Pride that Was China (part of "Great Civilizations" series), Sidgwick & Jackson (London, England), 1990.

(Editor and contributor) Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, Society for the Study of Early China (Berkeley, CA), 1993.

Divination, Mythology, and Monarchy in Han China, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1994.

(Editor, with Edward L. Shanghnessy) The Cambridge History of Ancient China, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1999.

A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han, and Xin Periods, 221 BC to AD 24, E.J. Brill (Leiden, Netherlands), 2000.

The Man Who Governed Han China, E.J. Brill (Leiden, Netherlands), 2004.

Also author of the paper "Military Operations in the Han Period," China Society, 1961. Contributor to books, including introduction, A.F.P. Hulsewe, China in Central Asia, the Early Stage, 125 BC-AD 23: An Annotated Translation of Chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty, E.J. Brill (Leiden, Netherlands), 1979.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael Loewe is a scholar of Chinese studies and the history of the Far East. Several of his works focus on the Han dynasty, the 400-year period in Chinese history distinguished by its organized administration, expansionist policies, and artistic achievement. Critics have noted Loewe's ability to present Chinese history in a way that a general audience can easily understand. Jessica Rawson, in a Times Literary Supplement review of The Pride that Was China, observed: "As a reference work this book is invaluable. It provides a quick overview of China's history, with an account of the complex systems of government and thought that China has evolved over 3,000 years."