Breakneck

Dan Wang’s compelling and provocative book explores both the merits and the madness of China’s engineering state… [Wang] deftly mixes data-rich analysis with vivid personal anecdotes and punchy opinions – John Thornhill * Financial Times *Easily one of the best books on China published this year… Wang has written that rare thing: a book on China that avoids the clichés and conventions of the genre and that is based on first-hand knowledge instead of impressions gleaned from reading English-language sources from abroad… policymakers in the UK would do well to ponder whether its message has any implication for this country * The Times *An illuminating account of China’s dizzying rise and its deepening pathologies – Chris Miller, author of Chip WarDan Wang is an indispensable voice on China issues because he has the rarest combination of precious resources: deep knowledge and unflinching judgment. Half of his mind runs on philosophy, the other half runs on engineering. If Dan did not already exist, we would need to invent him for precisely this day and age – Evan Osnos, author of Age of AmbitionA brilliant book about how China got ahead, the United States stagnated, and the challenges that both will face in the future – Odd Arne Westad, co-author of The Great Transformation: China’s Road from Revolution to ReformA must-read book on the intense competition between the United States and China for global leadership in the twenty-first century – Julian Gewirtz, former White House Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs and author of Never Turn BackA timely meditation on technology and governance – and a rollicking read, to boot – Eva Dou, author of House of HuaweiThe best recent book on China, on China and America, and arguably the best book of the year flat out. It is marvelously written and brilliantly understands the dilemmas of our modern world – Tyler Cowen

Dan Wang is a research fellow at the Hoover History Lab at Stanford University. He was previously a fellow at the Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center and the technology analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics, working in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai. Dan is the author of an annual letter from China and has published essays in the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, New York Magazine and the Atlantic.