Liu (archaeology, La Trobe University, Australia) and Chen (archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China) employ an interdisciplinary approach to challenge traditional theories of state formation in China and promote debate on early Chinese history. Analyzing data from archaeology, geology, cultural geography, ethnohistory, and ancient texts, they show how the need for external resources, especially metal and salt, drove the dynamics of state formation in early China in the period 1800-1400 BC. Distributed in the US by International Publishers Marketing. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)