"William Lindesay shows us the Wall in a completely new light by looking at the smaller objects that make up its history...Through these objects we feel the Great Wall transform from architecture into a living part of the history and culture of China." - Jack Weatherford, author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
"For years, Lindesay has hiked and studied the Wall with exceptional passion. To him, it seems, the Great Wall is not a mere structure, a political icon, or a cultural curiosity, but a treasure strove of stories." - Jaime FlorCruz, former Beijing Bureau Chief of Time magazine and CNN
"If you are going to China, and intend to see the Great Wall (or even if, unwisely, you don't), take this book on the plane with you, and absorb as many of its intriguing nuggets of Wall-lore and China-lore as you can, for it will make your visit infinitely richer." - Prof. Christopher Cullen, Emeritus Director, Needham Research Institute, Cambridge
"William Lindesay lives and breathes Great Wall history, and he exudes it with great passion." - Mike Loades, author of War Bows "Lindesay presents a coherent and highly informative account of the geography, history and material culture of China's Great Wall. His compelling and well-written account is rich in profound and often quite unexpected insights." - Lothar von Falkenhausen, Professor of Chinese Archaeology and Art History, UCLA
"I read The Great Wall in 50 Objects with interest and delight, and learned a huge amount. If I had to choose one image that lingers and disturbs, it would be the Chinese defending the Wall against Japanese invasion - and the author's wonderfully subtle explication of its real and intended meanings." - Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum 2002-2015
"China's Great Wall is both a monument and a mystery, an almost magical construction mixing beauty and terror. William Lindesay answers our wish to get closer to the people who built it and lived with it by revealing so many aspects of the Wall, taking us across the centuries and along its vast length." - Jasper Becker, author of Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine
"The Great Wall in 50 Objects' is a brilliant achievement of alternative history." - Peter Gordon, South China Morning Post "William Lindesay has a knack for approaching the iconic Great Wall of China in ways that are creative, idiosyncratic, and deeply personal....He has succeeded again with The Great Wall in 50 Objects." - Peter Hessler, author of River Town and Oracle Bones
