Grad., Haverford College; Ph.D. in History and East Asian Languages, Harvard Univ. Taught East Asian history at Dartmouth College from 1971 to 1984. Served as director of the China Council of the Asia Society from 1984 to 1987. From 1988 to 2001 he worked in the publishing industry as Senior Editor of the Book-of-the-Month Club, concurrently remaining active as an independent scholar, writer, and editor. He holds an appointment as Senior Lecturer at the China Institute, New York, and is a member of the Columbia University Faculty Seminar on Early China. A specialist in the intellectual history of early China, he is the author, co-author, or editor of nearly thirty books spanning the fields of East Asia, world literature, and local and family history.