Mr. Cohen is obviously well versed in the history of the period of which he writes; his ability to use Chinese, French, and Japanese sources (as well as his access to British sources), his careful scholarship, and his insight make this book one of the most valuable in this area. The cases he has cited are major ones, and his evaluations are fair and objective… The fruits of his labor are substantial and meaty.
-- Library Journal

[This book] sets up an admirable model for future Western studies [of the role of the missionary in China]. Based on a wide range of Chinese as well as Western sources, it provides a comprehensive yet economically presented survey of the missionary question in a period of key importance… The book is also an illuminating, if depressing, study in culture contact—or more accurately, perhaps, culture clash. Cohen has defined with precision the ways in which the missionary tended, wittingly or not, to undermine the traditional Chinese social order and value system… This is an important book, which adds considerable depth to our understanding of the disruptive influence of the West in mid-nineteenth-century China. It is, moreover, humanely argued, preserving always a keen sense of the human tragedy and frailty involved on both sides of this unhappy conflict.
-- Pacific Historical Review