Title: Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
Author: Evan Osnos
First published May 13, 2014
403 pages, Hardcover
ISBN: 9780374280741 (ISBN10: 0374280746)
Rating: 4.25
Overview
Age of Ambition by Evan Osnos is a captivating and thought-provoking account of the transformation of China. As a former Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, Osnos provides a unique perspective on the country’s political, economic, and cultural changes.
Through the lens of the clash between the rise of the individual and the Communist Party’s struggle to retain control, Osnos delves into the lives of both powerful and ordinary people as they navigate a rapidly evolving society. He raises important questions about the government’s restraints on freedom of expression, the anger of young Chinese professionals towards Western influence, and the pursuit of meaning in a society focused on wealth.
With his signature narrative verve and keen sense of irony, Osnos brings to life the stories of everyday people in a battle between aspiration and authoritarianism. Age of Ambition is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of modern China.
About the Author
In 2008, Evan Osnos began working as a staff writer for The New Yorker, where he currently covers politics and foreign affairs as a correspondent in Washington, D.C. Osnos penned “Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, May 2014), a book that examines the ascent of the individual in China and the struggle between aspiration and authoritarianism. The book is based on Osnos’ eight-year tenure living in Beijing.
Prior to his work with The New Yorker, Osnos served as the Beijing bureau chief for the Chicago Tribune, where he contributed to an award-winning investigative reporting series that was honored with a Pulitzer Prize in 2008. In addition, Osnos has received the Asia Society’s Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism on Asia, the Livingston Award for Young Journalists, and a Mirror Award for profile-writing.
He has also made contributions to public radio’s This American Life and the PBS series Frontline. Osnos’ reporting career began with his coverage of the Middle East, with a focus on Iraq.
Editoral Review
Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos is a non-fiction masterpiece that offers a deep, nuanced, and intimate portrayal of China and its recent history. Published in 2014, the book provides an insightful perspective on China’s political, social, and cultural developments during the first decade of the twenty-first century.
Osnos, a former correspondent for The New Yorker in China, spent nearly a decade in the country, interviewing a vast array of people, from entrepreneurs to activists, artists, and intellectuals, and exploring various regions and industries. The author’s wealth of experience and knowledge elegantly intertwine with his storytelling skills to produce a gripping narrative that reveals the complexities, challenges, and opportunities faced by China’s people and leaders.
The book is part memoir, part travelogue, and part social analysis, a blend that makes it unique in its genre. Osnos uses his personal and professional encounters to paint a vivid picture of modern China, a country that is simultaneously fascinating and frustrating, optimistic and pessimistic, free and controlled.
He delves into the lives and struggles of various Chinese people, highlighting their ambitions, hopes, fears, and dilemmas, and investigating the forces that shape their worldviews and actions. The book’s main thesis is that China is going through a period of unprecedented ambition, where individuals and the state pursue economic, social, and geopolitical goals with unbridled zeal.
This ambition is fueled by a desire for wealth, status, power, and recognition, as well as by a sense of national pride and historical legacy. However, Osnos argues that this ambition also creates tensions and contradictions that threaten China’s stability and coherence.
The pursuit of fortune, truth, and faith, the subtitle of the book, becomes a constant motif that runs through the lives of Osnos’s subjects, revealing their achievements, shortcomings, and ultimately, their humanity. One of the book’s strengths is its masterful writing, which combines lyrical prose, vivid descriptions, and incisive analysis.
Osnos’s voice is engaging, thoughtful, and empathetic, and he skillfully weaves together different strands of his narrative, creating a cohesive and satisfying whole. The book’s pacing is excellent, with each chapter building on the previous one, and leading to a rich and rewarding conclusion.
Another strength is the book’s historical and cultural significance. By tracing China’s recent past, from the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Osnos presents a compelling and insightful understanding of China’s current position in the world.
He exposes the tensions between tradition and modernity, between socialism and capitalism, between freedom and authoritarianism, and between individualism and collectivism, demonstrating how these tensions play out in the lives of Chinese citizens. However, the book’s weakness is that at times it can be overwhelming, with a plethora of characters, events, and ideas that can be difficult to keep track of.
Some readers may also find the book’s focus on elites and intellectuals somewhat limiting, as it does not fully represent the diversity and complexity of Chinese society. Overall, Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos is a must-read for anyone interested in China, its people, and its politics.
It is a fascinating, engaging, and enlightening book that offers a fresh and nuanced perspective on a country that is often portrayed in simplistic terms. It is also a timely and important book that sheds light on some of the most pressing issues in the world today, such as nationalism, globalization, and democracy.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of China or who wants to explore the challenges and opportunities of ambition in our times. Rating: 4.5/5 stars.
