This is an account of the ferocious uprising of Chinese peasants and the ensuing siege of Peking in the summer of 1900 - a 55-day confrontation between the "Boxers" (so-called for their martial-arts skills) and the Westerners they terrorized.

The drama of this bloody battle is conveyed here through records of the personal experiences of trapped people in Peking, of missionary women confronted by Boxer mobs, chased from village to village, then savagely murdered, as well as those more fortunate, who were able to escape.