{"product_id":"fact-in-fiction-1920s-china-and-ba-jins-family-9781503601062","title":"Fact in Fiction: 1920s China and Ba Jin's Family","description":"\u003cp\u003eHistorical novels can be windows into other cultures and eras, but it's not always clear what's fact and what's fiction. Thousands have read Ba Jin's influential novel \u003ci\u003eFamily\u003c\/i\u003e, but few realize how much he shaped his depiction of 1920s China to suit his story and his politics. In \u003ci\u003eFact in Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e, Kristin Stapleton puts Ba Jin's bestseller into full historical context, both to illustrate how it successfully portrays human experiences during the 1920s and to reveal its historical distortions.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eStapleton's attention to historical evidence and clear prose that directly addresses themes and characters from \u003ci\u003eFamily\u003c\/i\u003e create a book that scholars, students, and general readers will enjoy. She focuses on Chengdu, China, Ba Jin's birthplace and the setting for \u003ci\u003eFamily\u003c\/i\u003e, which was also a cultural and political center of western China. The city's richly preserved archives allow Stapleton to create an intimate portrait of a city that seemed far from the center of national politics of the day but clearly felt the forces of--and contributed to--the turbulent stream of Chinese history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eKristin Stapleton\u003c\/b\u003e is Associate Professor of History at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. She is also the author of \u003ci\u003eCivilizing Chengdu: Chinese Urban Reform, 1895-1937\u003c\/i\u003e (2000) and a member of the National Committee on United States-China Relations.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Stanford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50873444892946,"sku":"9781503601062","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_b83b69d8-f68d-4839-b428-66061d7edeb2.jpg?v=1737934815","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/fact-in-fiction-1920s-china-and-ba-jins-family-9781503601062","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}