本书根据著名历史学家邓广铭在北京大学授课时的讲义编写。内容包括：隋的兴亡；唐帝国的建立和发展；中唐、晚唐的政治、军事和社会经济；晚唐社会矛盾和唐末农民大起义；五代十国；隋唐五代的文化。(This book edits the renowned historian Deng Guangming's lecture notes when he was teaching at Peking University, including such topics as: the rise and fall of Sui; the founding and development of the Tang Empire; the politics, defense, social and economic conditions in Middle and Late Tang; the social strife and peasant uprising in Late Tang; five dynasties and ten kingdoms; culture of Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties.)