《中国文化经典导读系列：名家讲史记（英文版）》精选了《文史知识》杂志创刊三十余年以来诸多名家有关《史记》的赏析、解读、分析文章16篇，其中既有宏观上对《史记》一书的价值、影响、特色、写作方法等的介绍，也有微观上对《史记》某些名篇的赏析和阐释，还有对作者司马迁生平、经历、思想的考证，以及《史记》与其他史书的异同比较等。
《文史知识》编辑部，《文史知识》杂志自创刊以来，一直坚持大专家写小文章，坚持深入浅出地介绍和评述中国优秀传统文化，受到学术界的广泛好评。其作者荟萃全国一流文史专家，内容涵盖中国传统文化各个方面，文章知识性、趣味性、学术性兼备，深入浅出，雅俗共赏。
Sima Qian and the Records of the Grand Historian
An Pingqiu
The author not only aimed to record the historical events and people, but wanted to explore the relationship between nature, and the human affairs as well as the historical evolution. The book reflects the knowledge and experience of the historian who lived 2,000 years ago. Due to lack of ‘correct’ theoretical guidance, it was difficult for
him to make the right conclusion.As a historical book, the Records of the Grand Historian is praiseworthy, because the author had done a thorough job on the historical materials, and has been faithful to the facts. Sima Qian made a careful analysis and reviewed huge amounts of written materials to eliminate the false and retain the true. He never judged a person by his success or failure and never go with the stream. He did not sing groundless praises of anyone or conceal any evildoers and bad deeds,shortcomings or mistakes. He paid great respect to Confucius. However, he criticized Confucius for his preposterous and groundless praises of contemporary historical figures and events in
The Spring and Autumn Annals . There is another example. Concerning Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, he revealed the emperor’s foresight, generosity,
open-mindedness and talent in discovering capable people,and putting them at suitable posts. However, he also vividly described the emperor to be mischievous. That is why the
Records of the Grand Historian is recognized as a faithful historical account through the ages.
When writing the Records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian devised a way to present history in series of biographies. This was done by writing biographical literature by combining depiction of figures with description of scenes. He recorded the historical events in a faithful and vivid way, such as the “Fire Bull Strategy”, “the Emperor and the Assassin”, the “Banquet at Hongmen” and the “Battle of Gaixia”, which are not only historical records but also recreated literature with specific scenes and vivid
figures, and until this day it is universally praised. That’s why Lu Xun said the Records of the Grand Historian is a masterpiece of historical works and on par with the Lisao（one of the works by Qu Yuan） even without rhyme.
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