Stephen R. Platt is an American historian and writer. He is currently a professor of Chinese history at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

Early life and education

Platt holds a PhD in Chinese history from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

(2004). His area of expertise is in modern China, especially in the nineteenth century and the Qing dynasty's foreign relations.

Writing career

In 2007 he published ''Provincial Patriots: The Hunanese and Modern China''. Platt's books ''Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom'' and ''Imperial Twilight'' (examine East-West relations in China during the 19th century, focusing on the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted fr ...

(1850-1864) and the period leading up the

First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

(1800-1842). He published ''Imperial Twilight'' in 2018, and ''Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom'' in 2012. Platt has also written for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''Chinafile'', ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', and ''

Late Imperial China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...

''.

Awards and honors

*2004 Theron Rockwell Field Prize (Yale University) for dissertation ''Hunanese Nationalism and the Revival of Wang Fuzhi, 1839-1923'' *2012

Cundill History Prize The Cundill History Prize (formerly the Cundill Prize in Historical Literature) was founded in 2008 by Peter Cundill to recognize and promote literary and academic achievement in history. The prize is presented annually to an author who has publis ...

winner for ''Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom'' *2018

Baillie Gifford Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its m ...

shortlist for '' Imperial Twilight''

Bibliography

* ''Provincial Patriots: The Hunanese and Modern China''  (Harvard University Press, 2007). * ''Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War'' (Knopf, 2012) * '' Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age'' (Alfred A. Knopf, 2018)

References

External links

Stephen R. Platt Biography
Living people American sinologists Historians of China 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty Yale University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) American male non-fiction writers {{US-historian-stub