Has Tibet finally lost out to China?
Blessings from Beijing will inform readers who know little about Tibet, and those who know a great deal will discover…
His dark materials
In this giant, prodigiously sourced and insightful biography, John A. Farrell shows how Richard Milhous Nixon was the nightmare of…
Mao devours his foes
Frank Dikötter, professor of humanities at the University of Hong Kong and winner of the Samuel Johnson prize in 2011,…
‘Money, money, money’
The Dalai Lama on Cameron’s China policy
Cry havoc
If you love dogs and or live with one — I declare an interest on both counts — there is…
Monster of misrule
Mao Zedong, once the Helmsman, Great Teacher and Red Red Sun in Our Hearts, and still the Chairman, died in…
Little brother’s helper
Can there ever have been another book in which one of the authors (Anne Thurston in this case) so effectively…
Mao’s violent disciple
Much has been written about Deng Xiao-ping (1904–1997), most recently by Ezra Vogel in Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of…
The shadow of the tanks
Looking at these protests, I fear another Tiananmen
Lest we forget
Twenty-five years ago, Rowena Xiaoqing He, then a schoolgirl, was participating in the Tiananmen-supporting demonstrations in Canton. Far from the…
A rogues’ gallery
Hands up Spectator readers who can remember the American celebrities Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, Al Capone, Jack Dempsey, Zane Grey,…
Let them eat glue
Skip this book if you dislike dogs, or even if you are indifferent to them, or echo an acquaintance of…
Cheaper than chimps
After the Morecambe Bay Hospital scandal a new era opens of compassion, -whistle-blowing, naming names and possible prosecutions. But what…
