The Good Earth

The Good Earth Trilogy: The Good Earth, Sons, A House Divided, by Pearl S. Buck, Open Road Media, 2013.

The original novel tells the story of Chinese farmer Wang Lung and his family, and its two direct sequels continue the story of his descendants following his death.

This Earth of Mankind, Book 1 of the Buru Quartet, by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Penguin, 1996.

Like The Good Earth, this book is the first of a series that examines the changing social order of entrenched mores in conflict with emerging changes in the social order; individuals face many of the same challenges as Wang Lung and O-lan.

“The Taiping Rebellion: The Bloodiest Civil War You’ve Never Heard Of,” by James Newman, The Collector, April 2021.

This article discusses the Taiping Rebellion and examines Hong Xiuquan (who led the rebellion), what sparked it, its major battles, and how it ended.

Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography, by Peter Conn, Cambridge University Press, 1998.

The author examines the life of the author in the US and China and the parallels in her experiences in both countries, showing that Buck—much like the women she describes in the novel—was undervalued and unappreciated as an author and historical figure.