'...timely, intelligent, unprejudiced and readable...this is a work of intellectual as much as diplomatic history and readers will enjoy seeing old orthodoxies subverted and ingrained prejudices dissipated by Dr Gelber's persuasive insinuation of reason.' - Professor S.A.M. Adshead, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
'...a well written, sharp-eyed and thoughtful treatment of a subject which continues to arouse interest and controversy among historians.' - Professor John Gregory, author of The West and China Since 1500
'Harry Gelber shows how opium was only the immediate cause of war in a conflict which was far more about the gulf between British and Chinese views of international order and the rules of trade. I enjoyed reading it immensely.' - Professor Lord William Wallace, London School of Economics and Political Science