Canadian university professor, historian
Timothy Brook
Born Timothy James Brook (1951-01-06 ) January 6, 1951 (age 74) Toronto , Ontario , Canada Occupation Sinologist, historian, writer Language English , Chinese , French , Japanese Education Genre History Subject Sinology; cultural, economic, legal and social history; world trade and globalization Notable works Books by the author www .timothybrook .com
Timothy James Brook (Chinese name: 卜正民; born January 6, 1951) is a Canadian historian , sinologist, and writer specializing in the study of China (sinology ).[ 1] [ 2] [ 3] [ 4] He holds the Republic of China Chair, Department of History, University of British Columbia .
His research interests include the social and cultural history of the Ming Dynasty in China; law and punishment in Imperial China ; collaboration during Japan's wartime occupation of China , 1937–45, the Nanjing massacre , and Japanese war crimes trials; global history; and historiography .
Early life and education
Timothy Brook was born on January 6, 1951, in Toronto , Ontario in Canada , grew up in that city and currently lives in Vancouver.[ 1] [ 5]
After graduating from the University of Toronto Schools , Brook received a bachelor's degree in English literature at the University of Toronto in 1973; a master's degree in Regional Studies–East Asia at Harvard University in 1977, and in 1984 received a Ph.D. in History and East Asian Languages at Harvard University, where his dissertation advisor was Philip A. Kuhn .[ 6]
Academic positions
From 1984–86 Brook was a MacTaggart Fellow at the University of Alberta ; from 1986–97 he progressed from Assistant to Full Professor at the University of Toronto; from 1997–99 he was Professor of History at Stanford University , and 1999–2004 he was Professor of History at the University of Toronto,[ 6] and Shaw Professor of Chinese at the University of Oxford .[ 7] He came to University of British Columbia in 2004, and was Principal, St. John's College 2004–2009.[ 4] [ 6] He is also Academic Director of the Contemporary Tibetan Studies Program at the University of British Columbia's Institute of Asian Research .[ 8]
He was elected President of the Association for Asian Studies 2015.
Selected honors
2023 Distinguished Contributions to China Studies Award, World Forum on China Studies[ 9]
2010 D.Litt., honoris causa, University of Warwick
2010 Prix Auguste Pavie , Académie des sciences d'outre-mer , Paris, for Le Chapeau de Vermee r
2009 Mark Lynton Prize in History , Columbia University School of Journalism and Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, for Vermeer's Hat
2009 Wallace K. Ferguson Prize , Canadian Historical Association, for Death by a Thousand Cuts
2006 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
2005 François-Xavier Garneau Medal , Canadian Historical Association., for The Confusions of Pleasure
2000 Joseph Levenson Prize , Association for Asian Studies, for The Confusions of Pleasure
Editorial positions
American Historical Review , 2012--; Handbook of Oriental Studies , Brill, Leiden; Studies in Comparative Early Modern History , University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; International Journal of Asian Studies , University of Tokyo; Journal of Ming Studies , Taipei; Ming Studies , Society for Ming Studies, New Mexico State University; Shilin 史林 (Historical studies), Shanghai. Since 2008, he has been Editor-in-chief of The History of Imperial China , a six-volume series published by Harvard University Press .[ 10]
Publications
Brook's scholarly publications in the fields of Asian social , economic and legal history and international trade include:
Books written
Geographical Sources of Ming-Qing History . Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan , 1988. Second expanded edition, 2002.
Quelling the People: The Military Suppression of the Beijing Democracy Movement . New York: Oxford University Press , Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1992; Stanford: Stanford University Press , 1998.[ 11] [ 12] [ 13] [ 14]
Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China . Cambridge: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University , 1993.[ 16] [ 17] [ 18] [ 19]
(in Chinese) Wei quanli qidao: fojiao yu wan Ming Zhongguo shishen shehui de xingcheng . Nanjing: Jiangsu renmin chubanshe, 2005.[ 10]
The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China . Berkeley: University of California Press , 1998. Winner of the Joseph Levenson Book Prize of 2000.[ 20]
(in Czech) Čtvero ročních dob dynastie Ming: Čína v období 1368–1644 . Prague: Vyšehrad, 2003.
(in Chinese) Zongle de kunhuo: Mingdai de shangye yu wenhua . Beijing: Sanlian, Taipei: Linking, 2004.
(in Korean) K'waerak ŭi hondon: Chungguk Myŏngdaeŭi sangŏp kwa munhwa . Seoul: Yeesan, 2005.[ 10]
Collaboration: Japanese Agents and Local Elites in Wartime China . Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press , 2005.[ 21] [ 22] [ 23] [ 24] [ 25]
The Chinese State in Ming Society . London: Routledge Curzon, 2005.[ 26] [ 27]
Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World . New York: Bloomsbury; Toronto: Penguin ; London: Profile, 2008.[ 3] [ 4]
(in French) Le chapeau de Vermeer : Le XVIIe siècle à l'aube de la mondialisation . France: Payot, 2010.
(in Italian) Il cappello di Vermeer : il Seicento e la nascita del mondo globalizzato . Turin: Einaudi, 2015.
Death by a Thousand Cuts , with Jérôme Bourgon and Gregory Blue. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2008.[ 28] [ 29]
The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties . Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2010; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press , 2013.[ 30] [ 31] [ 32]
Mr. Selden's Map of China. Decoding the Secrets of a Vanished Cartographer . New York, Bloomsbury, 2013. ISBN 978-1-62040-143-9
(in Italian) La mappa della Cina del signor Selden : il commercio delle spezie, una carta perduta e il Mar Cinese Meridionale . Turin: Einaudi, 2016.
Great State: China and the World . London, Profile Books, 2019. ISBN 978-1-78125-828-6 <https://profilebooks.com/great-state.html >
Books edited
The Asiatic Mode of Production in China . Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1989.
National Polity and Local Power: The Transformation of Late Imperial China , by Min Tu-ki. Co- edited with Philip Kuhn . Cambridge: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1989.
Culture and Economy: The Shaping of Capitalism in Eastern Asia . Co-edited with Hy Van Luong. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997.
Civil Society in China . Co-edited with B. Michael Frolic. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1997.
China and Historical Capitalism: Genealogies of Sinological Knowledge . Co-edited with Gregory Blue. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
(in Chinese) Zhongguo yu lishi zibenzhuyi: hanxue zhishi de xipuxue . Taipei: Chu liu tushu gongsi, 2004. Simplified character edition: Shanghai: Xinxing chubanshe, 2005.
Documents on the Rape of Nanking . Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999.
(in Chinese) Expanded Chinese translation: Nanjing datusha yingwen shiliao ji . Taipei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2007.[ 10]
Nation Work: Asian Elites and National Identities . Co-edited with Andre Schmid. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2000.
(in Chinese) Minzu de goujian: Yazhou jingying ji qi minzu rentong , 2008.[ 10]
Opium Regimes: China, Britain, and Japan, 1839–1952 . Co-edited with Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.
The History of Imperial China (6 vols). Cambridge: Harvard University Press (2008-). Editor-in-chief from 2008 to date.[ 10]
Awards
In 2009, Vermeer's Hat won Brook the Mark Lynton History Prize from Columbia University in New York , worth $10,000 (U.S.). The prize is one of the Lukas Prize Project awards.[ 5] [ 33] The book was described as a "bold, original and compulsively readable work of history."[ 5]
Death by a Thousand Cuts was a finalist and received an honourable mention for the Professional/Scholarly Publishing (PSP) Division of the Association of American Publishers 2008 PROSE Award, in the World History and Biography/Autobiography category.[ 34] [ 35]
References
^ a b Staff (16 December 2007). "Biography - Brook, Timothy (James) (1951-): An article from: Contemporary Authors" . Thomson Gale . Archived from the original on 3 June 2008. Retrieved 2010-01-26 .
^ Lumley, Elizabeth (May 2003). Canadian Who's Who 2003, Volume 38 (28th ed.). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press . p. 172. ISBN 978-0-8020-8867-3 . Retrieved 2010-01-27 .
^ a b Conrad, Peter (29 June 2008). "A time when every picture told a story" . The Observer . Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 2010-01-22 .
^ a b c Dirda, Michael (27 January 2008). "Painting the World: How a hunger for tea and tobacco created global trade" . Washington Post . Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 2010-01-22 .
^ a b c Staff (1 April 2009). "Vancouver writer Timothy Brook wins U.S. nonfiction prize" . CBC News . Archived from the original on 2 April 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-24 .
^ a b c Staff (October 2004). "Timothy James Brook (profile)" . St. John's College, University of British Columbia. Archived from the original on 2010-02-04. Retrieved 2010-01-22 .
^ Staff (14 May 2008). "New Oxford China Centre launched" . University of Oxford . Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 2010-01-28 .
^ Staff (2008). "Death by a Thousand Cuts" . Harvard University Press . Archived from the original on 2010-02-04. Retrieved 2010-01-23 .
^ Yuan, Shenggao. "Foreigners awarded for Chinese studies" . China Daily . Retrieved 2025-01-06 .
^ a b c d e f Staff (c. 2015). "Timothy James Brook" . University of British Columbia. Archived from the original on 2015-02-07. Retrieved 2015-03-31 .
^ Mulvenon, James (February 2000). "Quelling the People: The Military Suppression of the Beijing Democracy Movement by Timothy Brook". The Journal of Asian Studies . 59 (1). Association for Asian Studies : 145– 146. doi :10.2307/2658599 . JSTOR 2658599 . S2CID 159711035 .
^ Wortzel, Larry M. (January 1994). "Quelling the People: The Military Suppression of the Beijing Democracy Movement by Timothy Brook". Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs . 31 (31). Contemporary China Center, Australian National University : 123– 126. doi :10.2307/2949905 . JSTOR 2949905 . Volume or issue is simply shown as "No. 31".
^ Staff (11 December 2005). "FRONTLINE: The Tank Man: Interviews: Timothy Brook (edited transcript)" . Public Broadcasting Service . Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 2010-01-24 .
^ Dreyer, June Teufel (December 1993). "Quelling the People: The Military Suppression of the Beijing Democracy Movement by Timothy Brook". The China Quarterly (136 (Special Issue: Greater China)). Cambridge University Press on behalf of the School of Oriental and African Studies : 988– 989. doi :10.1017/S0305741000032446 . JSTOR 655602 . S2CID 155061305 .
^ Barrett, T. H. (December 1994). "Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China by Timothy Brook" . International Journal of Asian Studies . 140 . Cambridge University Press : 1151– 1153. doi :10.1017/S0305741000053029 . S2CID 154856830 . Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2010-01-26 .
^ Naquin, Susan; Brook, Timothy (December 1995). "Praying for Power: Buddhism and The Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China by Timothy Brook". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies . 55 (2). Harvard-Yenching Institute : 556– 568. doi :10.2307/2719353 . JSTOR 2719353 .
^ Struve, Lynn; Brook, Timothy (June 1995). "Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late- Ming China by Timothy Brook". The American Historical Review . 100 (3). American Historical Association : 930– 931. doi :10.2307/2168690 . JSTOR 2168690 .
^ ter Haar, Barend J. (1999). "Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China by Timothy Brook". T'oung Pao . 85 (4/5). BRILL : 515– 520. doi :10.1163/1568532992642413 . JSTOR 4528819 . Citation reads: "Second Series, Vol. 85, Fasc. 4/5 (1999)".
^ Yee, Danny (2005). "The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China" . dannyreviews.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-03. Retrieved 2010-01-24 .
^ Pye, Lucian W. (June 2005). "Collaboration: Japanese Agents and Local Elites in Wartime China" . Foreign Affairs . 84 (3). Council on Foreign Relations : Foreign Affairs: 149. doi :10.2307/20034400 . JSTOR 20034400 . Archived from the original on 2012-09-25. Retrieved 2010-01-24 .
^ Barrett, David P. (Fall 2005). "Timothy Brook. Collaboration: Japanese Agents and Local Elites in Wartime China" (PDF) . The Chinese Historical Review . 12 (2). The Chinese Historians in the United States, Inc.: 339– 342. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2010-01-29 . The PDF shows a listing of contents for volume 12, No.2, General Issue Number 21. See CHR web site Archived 2009-09-15 at the Wayback Machine .
^ Schoppa, R. Keith (December 2005). "Timothy Brook. Collaboration: Japanese Agents and Local Elites in Wartime China". The American Historical Review . 110 (5). American Historical Association : 1501– 1502. doi :10.1086/ahr.110.5.1501 .
^ Mitter, Rana (2006). "Collaboration: Japanese Agents and Local Elites in Wartime China" (PDF) . The International History Review . 28 . Routledge : 426. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-14. Retrieved 2010-01-29 .
^ Duara, Prasenjit (January 2008). "Collaboration: Japanese Agents and Local Elites in Wartime China" (PDF) . The China Journal (59). Contemporary China Center, Australian National University : 142– 143. doi :10.1086/tcj.59.20066387 . Archived from the original (PDF) on August 5, 2008. Retrieved 2010-01-29 .
^ Nakajima, Gakusho; Brook, Timothy (January 2006). "The Chinese State in Ming Society by Timothy Brook" . International Journal of Asian Studies . 3 (1). Association for Asian Studies : 143– 147. doi :10.1017/S1479591405280257 . S2CID 144121735 . Archived from the original on 2008-10-13. Retrieved 2010-01-26 .
^ Soulliere, Ellen (June 2006). "Timothy Brook, The Chinese State in Ming Society" (PDF) . New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies . 8 (1). New Zealand Asian Studies Society: 168– 171. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2010-05-26. Retrieved 2010-01-28 .
^ Staff (8 May 2008). "Death by a Thousand Cuts" . The Times Higher Education . Archived from the original on 20 August 2012. Retrieved 2010-01-23 .
^ Staff (5 May 2008). "Death by a Thousand Cuts" . The New Yorker . Archived from the original on 10 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-23 .
^ Waltner, Ann (2010). "Timothy Brook: The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. By Timothy Brook". The Journal of Asian Studies . 69 (4, November 2010). Cambridge University Press : 1179– 1181. doi :10.1017/S0021911810002159 . S2CID 163821333 .
^ Bol, Peter (2011). "The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties (review)" (PDF) . Journal of Song-Yuan Studies . 41 . Project MUSE : 405– 410. doi :10.1353/sys.2011.0014 . S2CID 162226951 . Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-08-14. Retrieved 2012-10-24 .
^ Maire, Stephen (11 February 2012). "The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties by Timothy Brook" . Asian Review of Books . Cheshta Infotech Pvt Ltd. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-24 .
^ Hoffmann, Jackie (29 May 2009). "UBC Professor Wins Prestigious History Prize" . Faculty of Arts, University of British Columbia. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2010-01-29 .
^ Staff (2008). "Death by a Thousand Cuts: Timothy Brook, Jérôme Bourgon and Gregory Blue" . Harvard University Press . Archived from the original on 2010-02-04. Retrieved 2010-01-28 .
^ Staff (5 February 2009). "Association of American Publishers Announces 2008 PROSE Award Winners" . Association of American Publishers . Archived from the original on 2011-06-09. Retrieved 2010-01-28 .
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