Individualism in Early China addresses an important lacuna in the field. It argues that the long shadow cast by scholars working in a comparative mode in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, particularly Max Weber, has resulted in a continued failure to appreciate the role of individual agency in Chinese classical texts. One element of the problem has been the tendency to define individualism so narrowly that it excludes all but a small corner of the Western tradition. Erica Brindley shows that individualism, if defined expansively, can be found in all of the seminal texts of pre-Han China. While I am convinced of the importance of Brindley's project, two aspects of her analysis are likely to invite skepticism. The first potential challenge for a reader is appreciating Brindley's use of the term “conformism” to argue for individualism. The second is that by not exploring the function of the rites and...

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