蔔正民，著名漢學傢，曆任多倫多大學、斯坦福大學等校教授，英國牛津大學邵氏漢學教授，現為加拿大英屬哥倫比亞大學聖約翰學院曆史係教授。蔔正民學術視野廣闊，主要從事亞洲曆史和文化的研究，研究領域涉及明代社會和文化史、“二戰”時期日本在中國的占領等。代錶著作有：《為權力祈禱：佛教與晚明中國士紳社會的形成》、《縱樂的睏惑：明代的商業與文化》、《明代的國傢與社會》、《維梅爾的帽子：從一幅畫看全球化貿易的興起》、《殺韆刀：中西視野下的淩遲處死》等。

Studies of collaboration have changed how the history of World War II in Europe is written, but for China and Japan this aspect of wartime conduct has remained largely unacknowledged. In a bold new work, Timothy Brook breaks the silence surrounding the sensitive topic of wartime collaboration between the Chinese and their Japanese occupiers.

Japan's attack on Shanghai in August 1937 led to the occupation of the Yangtze Delta. In spite of the legendary violence of the assault, Chinese elites throughout the delta came forward to work with the conquerors. Using archives on both sides of the conflict, Brook reconstructs the process of collaboration from Shanghai to Nanking. Collaboration proved to be politically unstable and morally awkward for both sides, provoking tensions that undercut the authority of the occupation state and undermined Japan's long-term prospects for occupying China.

This groundbreaking study mirrors the more familiar stories of European collaboration with the Nazis, showing how the Chinese were deeply troubled by their unavoidable cooperation with the occupiers. The comparison provides a point of entry into the difficult but necessary discussion about this long-ignored aspect of the war in the Pacific.