A vibrant, colorful,
and revelatory inner history of China during a moment of profound
transformation
From abroad, we
often see China as a caricature: a nation of pragmatic plutocrats and
ruthlessly dedicated students destined to rule the global economy-or
an addled Goliath, riddled with corruption and on the edge of
stagnation. What we don't see is how both powerful and ordinary
people are remaking their lives as their country dramatically
changes.
As the Beijing
correspondent for The New Yorker, Evan Osnos was on the ground in
China for years, witness to profound political, economic, and
cultural upheaval. In Age of Ambition, he describes the greatest
collision taking place in that country: the clash between the rise of
the individual and the Communist Party's struggle to retain control.
He asks probing questions: Why does a government with more success
lifting people from poverty than any civilization in history choose
to put strict restraints on freedom of expression? Why do millions of
young Chinese professionals-fluent in English and devoted to Western
pop culture-consider themselves "angry youth," dedicated to
resisting the West's influence? How are Chinese from all strata
finding meaning after two decades of the relentless pursuit of
wealth?
Writing with great
narrative verve and a keen sense of irony, Osnos follows the moving
stories of everyday people and reveals life in the new China to be a
battleground between aspiration and authoritarianism, in which only
one can prevail.