After reading Diana Preston's "The Boxer Rebellion," I've learned something about my taste in history books. Full-length books on relatively brief historical events tend to be filled with anecdotes. I do not enjoy reading a book full of anecdotes. A encyclopedia entry will suffice.
This is a book admittedly telling only the Western side of the story. Preston claims that Chinese historical accounts are rare. A quick google search shows a few, so I'm dubious of this claim. Suffice it to speculate that a superstitious Chinese Empress believed that the xenophobic and violent "Boxer" sect actually possessed the mystical powers they claimed and were going to be able to throw out the racist and imperialist foreigners. What isn't speculation is that the rebellion failed, causing a summer of misery and fear in 1900.
For a more detailed account, here is the wikipedia article. If you think you might enjoy reading 360+ pages of anecdotes about turn-of-the century Westerners' plight during these times, you could read this book.
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