History Prof Publishes Book About Neo-Confucian Philosopher

Author: News Bureau
Posted: Tuesday, September 2, 2014 4:00 AM
Categories: College of Arts and Sciences | Pressroom | Faculty/Staff

Macon, GA

Book Cover

 

A new book by Dr. George Lawrence Israel, assistant professor of History, examines the political career of Wang Yangming.

Brill Publishing recently released "Doing Good and Ridding Evil in Ming China: The Political Career of Wang Yangming." The publisher describes the book as "an account of this influential Neo-Confucian philosopher’s official career and military campaigns. While his contribution to China’s intellectual history and the outlines of his political life are well known, the relation between his thought and what he did in his capacity as a Ming official has been given less attention. Prior writing on Wang Yangming has passed judgment on his ideas by either idealizing or condemning him for how he treated those he was assigned to govern. Through a detailed reconstruction of his career in the context of issues of empire, ethnicity, and violence, George Israel demonstrates that the truth lies somewhere in the middle."

Israel specializes in East Asian studies. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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