Title: A nice introduction
Review: The book makes a good impression. It is an eloquently written, absorbing narrative, attentive to detail and yet broad in scope. The book nicely integrates discussion of political history with discourse on society and culture of modern China.It is ostensibly weaker towards the end - barely a fraction of the book deals with post-1949 China. The PRC's foreign policy during the Cold War unfortunately receives scant attention; the Cultural Revolution is addressed as if in passing. Sino-US rapprochement is barely mentioned (with a questionable assertion that it was mainly a product of pressure on the part of the Chinese oil lobby).The part on the democratic movement in China was an interesting read, but it overshadowed other important issues in the last 20-30 years of China's political and economic development.Overall, excellent book, certainly one of the best introductions to modern history of China out there, highly recommended for new students of Chinese history as a starting point.
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