Book excerpt: Winner of the 2017 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award The Later Han dynasty, also known as Eastern Han, ruled China for the first two centuries of the Christian era. Comparable in extent and power to the early Roman empire, it dominated east Asia from present-day Vietnam to the Mongolian steppe. Rafe de Crespigny presents here the first full account of this period in Chinese history to be found in a Western language. Commencing with a detailed account of the imperial capital, the history describes the nature of government, the expansion of the Chinese people to the south, the conflicts of scholars and officials with eunuchs at court, and the final collapse which followed the rebellion of the Yellow Turbans and the rise of regional warlords.