The Grand Scribe's Records, Volume XI: The Memoirs of Han China, Part IV

The Grand Scribe's Records, Volume XI presents the final nine memoirs of Ssu-ma Ch'ien's history, continuing the series of collective biographies with seven more prosopographies on the ruthless officials, the wandering gallants, the artful favorites, those who discern auspicious days, turtle and stalk diviners, and those whose goods increase, punctuated by the final account of Emperor Wu's wars against neighboring peoples and concluded with Ssu-ma Ch'ien's postface containing a history of his family and himself.

Ssu-ma Ch'ien (145–ca. 86 BC) was an official at the court of the Han Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC), who was involved in the compilation of a mammoth historical project that resulted in this history, which came to be known as the Shih chi (The grand scribe's records).
William H. Nienhauser, Jr., is the Halls-Bascom Professor of Classical Chinese Literature at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and editor of five previous volumes of The Grand Scribe's Records.