I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and have degrees from Reed College (B.A. in Anthropology), the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (M.A. in History), and Yale University (Ph.D. in History). I'm currently Professor of Chinese and Global History at Emory University, where I write on global history, the history of China, and the Dutch East India Company. My most recent book, The Last Embassy, tells the story of a Dutch mission to China that took place in 1795, a dramatic but little-known episode that I hope will not only help us better understand the history of relations between China and the West, but also provide a unique perspective on eighteenth-century China. Prior to that, I published The Gunpowder Age, a work of global military history that explores gunpowder warfare in Europe and China from 900 to 1900. I've also published two other sole-authored books: How Taiwan Became Chinese (Columbia University Press, 2008), which focuses on the early history of Taiwan, and Lost Colony: The Untold Story of Europe’s First War with China (Princeton University Press, 2011), which explores the European military revolution with data from East Asia. I've also published a number of edited books as well as numerous articles. I currently live in Decatur, Georgia, with my wife, Andrea, my three daughters, Amalia, Sylvia, and Josephine, and a lovely dog and a less lovely snake.

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Eating sago in Ambon Island, Indonesia. Photo by Liz Hateyong, 2023