China Shakes the World
Has anyone read this book by James Kynge? I just started it last night and found the introduction painful–mainly because of the overly stressed (and probably apocryphal) quotation by Napoleon (”let China sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world”). Moreover, the book’s tone seems to be a cheap version of Thomas Friedman’s enthusiasm and wonderment in The World is Flat.
These are only superficial criticisms, and I can’t comment about the actual content since I’ve only read the introduction.
Since China Shakes the World has gotten good reviews, I’m gonna keep with it, hoping that only the introduction was terrible and that the rest of the book will make up for it. If anyone reading this post has read it, though, please tell me what you thought.
Filed under: Books
This book sounds horrible. The title is stolen from Jack Belden’s account of the Civil War–does the author ever explain why he could not think of his own title?
No, I don’t think he references Jack Belden. I’m going to put off reading it until this summer–I’m too busy to wade through it now.