Description: Drawing on eye-witness accounts, official Ming histories, and African, Arab, and Indian sources, Levathes offers a stunning portrait of the rise and fall of China's great navy--one hundred years before Columbus--boasting the largest wooden boats ever built, technically superior vessels that predated European ships by centuries. She sheds new light on the historical and cultural context in which this great navy thrived, as well as the perception of other cultures toward this little understood empire at the time. Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, When China Ruled the Seas is the fullest picture yet of the early Ming Dynasty and its extraordinary navy.
Review Quotes: "Levathes tells her story in a lively style, and details her sources meticulously."--The New York Times Book Review
"A lively, interesting and highly readable account."--Far Eastern Economic Review