Deciphering Sun Tzu: How to Read the Art of War

As the People's Republic's seemingly inexorable rise to economic and military power continues, never has the need for a better grasp of Chinese strategic thought by the West been more acute. In Deciphering Sun Tzu, Derek Yuen seeks to reclaim for the reader the hidden contours and lost Chinese and Taoist contexts of Sun Tzu's renowned treatise The Art of War, a literary classic and arguably one of the most influential books ever written. He also explains its historical, philosophical, strategic, and cross-cultural significance.

His comprehensive analysis of Sun Tzu, based on a close reading of the Chinese sources, also reconstructs the philosophy, Taoist methodology and worldview that effectively form the cornerstones of Chinese strategic thinking, which are arguably as relevant today as at any moment in history.

Yuen's innovative reading and analysis of Sun Tzu within and from a Chinese context is a new way of approaching the strategic master's main concepts, which he compares with those of Clausewitz, Liddell-Hart and other Western strategists.

Deciphering Sun Tzu offers illuminating analysis and contextualization of The Art of War in a manner that has long been sought by Western readers and opens new means of getting to grips with Chinese strategic thought.

Author: Derek M. C. Yuen
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 11/01/2014
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.32lbs
Size: 9.76h x 6.85w x 0.92d
ISBN: 9780199373512

About the Author
Derek M.C. Yuen has a PhD in Strategic Studies from the University of Reading. Based in Hong Kong, his research focuses on the strategic thought of Sun Tzu, Lao Tzu and Mao Zedong, with a view to developing more accurate readings of Chinese strategy and China itself.