{"product_id":"breakneck-chinas-quest-to-engineer-the-future","title":"Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eBreakneck \u003c\/em\u003ereads as a warning. The book's title seems to refer to China's speedy growth. But it might also apply to the US; after all, it's what can happen when you slip.--Christopher Beam \"Bloomberg\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDan Wang is able to illuminate China like no one else, and his annual letters have long been mandatory reading in Silicon Valley. \n\u003cem\u003eBreakneck \u003c\/em\u003eexpands this analysis and delivers a simultaneously riveting and revelatory account of one of the most important topics of our time.--Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA brilliant book about how China got ahead, how the United States stagnated, and the challenges that both will face in the future.--Odd Arne Westad, professor of history at Yale University and co-author of The Great Transformation: China's Road from Revolution to Reform\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSimply one of the best China writers out there. . . an incredibly thoughtful, holistic and engaging work on one of the biggest stories of our time.--Tracy Alloway, co-host of Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDan Wang comes bearing an uncomfortable truth that Americans need to hear: China builds, while America argues. And if we don't change that situation, and learn how to build things again, China is going to win the next century.--Noah Smith, writer at Noahpinion\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDan Wang is one of the deepest thinkers and most careful observers of the world that I know. His letters are extremely thought-provoking and worth the read.--Ben Thompson, founder of Stratechery\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA 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 Back\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe 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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t[A] brilliant book--equal parts gripping and depressing.--Tunku Varadarajan \"Wall Street Journal\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFor a political center struggling to reconcile fear and envy, Dan Wang's \n\u003cem\u003eBreakneck\u003c\/em\u003e may be a breakthrough.-- \"n+1\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAn illuminating account of China's dizzying rise and its deepening pathologies.--Chris Miller, author of Chip War\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChina outpaces and outproduces the United States in a growing number of high-tech fields. With his trademark mix of personal observation and objective analysis, Dan Wang explains not only what is happening, but why. The result is a tour de force essential for policymakers, academics, investors and entrepreneurs. \n\u003cbr\u003e--Rush Doshi, assistant professor of security studies at Georgetown University and C.V. Starr senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDan 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 Ambition\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA timely meditation on technology and governance--and a rollicking read, to boot.--Eva Dou, author of House of Huawei\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t[Wang] deftly mixes data-rich analysis with vivid personal anecdotes and punchy opinions. His book is both a fascinating exploration of China's strengths and weaknesses, as well as a searing critique of how a self-harming American leadership could lose the technological arms race to its rival.--John Thornhill \"Financial Times\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA landmark work. . . Wang's writing is lucid, his insights are original, and his ability to bridge empirical observation with philosophical reflection makes this book essential reading for anyone concerned with the strategic implications of China's rise.--Jean-Thomas Nicole \"The Cipher Brief\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrief Description\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"In Breakneck, Wang blends political, economic, and philosophical analysis with reportage to reveal a provocative new framework for understanding China--one that helps us see America more clearly, too. While China is an engineering state, relentlessly pursuing megaprojects, the United States has stalled. America has transformed into a lawyerly society, reflexively blocking everything, good and bad. Blending razor-sharp analysis with immersive storytelling, Wang offers a gripping portrait of a nation in flux. Breakneck traverses metropolises like Shanghai, Chongqing, and Shenzhen, where the engineering state has created not only dazzling infrastructure but also a sense of optimism. The book also exposes the downsides of social engineering, including the surveillance of ethnic minorities, political suppression, and the traumas of the one-child policy and zero-Covid\"--\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIf you want to know what is driving today's China or America, Chinese-Canadian analyst Dan Wang's new book is an indispensable guide. Wang shows that the world's most urgent and challenging twenty-first-century task may be to forge a synthesis of the best of China and America, while avoiding the worst of each.--J. Bradford DeLong \"Project Syndicate\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUrgent... It forces Americans to confront a lingering question: How did the U.S. lose its ability to build, and can it reclaim that capacity today? It's a book with China in the title, but America at its heart.--Vincent Ni \"NPR\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEasily 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.--Yuan Yi Zhu \"The Times\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA new theory of China's rise... Illuminating... The \"engineering state\" is a useful way to think about industrial competition between America and China.-- \"Economist\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWang brings curiosity, open-mindedness and intellectual rigour to this book, along with a sympathy and admiration for both China and the US.--Denis Staunton \"Irish Times\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn analyzing China, Wang's vivid, often autobiographical reporting delivers.--Jordan McGillis \"City Journal\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis riveting book offers a distinctive framework for understanding China as an \"engineering state.\" . . . For both China and the United States to continue to prosper, they will have to alter their respective models: the United States must recapture its engineering prowess and commit to twenty-first-century manufacturing and infrastructure, and China must embrace political reform. Wang is rooting for both countries to succeed.--Elizabeth Economy \"Foreign Affairs\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor close to a decade, technology analyst Dan Wang--\"a gifted observer of contemporary China\" (Ross Douthat)--has been living through the country's astonishing, messy progress. China's towering bridges, gleaming railways, and sprawling factories have improved economic outcomes in record time. But rapid change has also sent ripples of pain throughout the society. This reality--political repression \u003cem\u003eand astonishing growth\u003c\/em\u003e--is not a paradox, but rather a feature of China's engineering mindset.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eBreakneck\u003c\/em\u003e, Wang blends political, economic, and philosophical analysis with reportage to reveal a provocative new framework for understanding China--one that helps us see America more clearly, too. While China is an engineering state, relentlessly pursuing megaprojects, the United States has stalled. America has transformed into a lawyerly society, reflexively blocking everything, good and bad.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBlending razor-sharp analysis with immersive storytelling, Wang offers a gripping portrait of a nation in flux. \u003cem\u003eBreakneck\u003c\/em\u003e traverses metropolises like Shanghai, Chongqing, and Shenzhen, where the engineering state has created not only dazzling infrastructure but also a sense of optimism. The book also exposes the downsides of social engineering, including the surveillance of ethnic minorities, political suppression, and the traumas of the one-child policy and zero-Covid.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn an era of animosity and mistrust, Wang unmasks the shocking similarities between the United States and China. \u003cem\u003eBreakneck\u003c\/em\u003e reveals how each country points toward a better path for the other: Chinese citizens would be better off if their government could learn to value individual liberties, while Americans would be better off if their government could learn to embrace engineering--and to produce better outcomes for the many, not just the few.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eWang, Dan\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDan Wang\u003c\/strong\u003e 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. Dan is the author of an annual letter from China and has published essays in \n\u003cem\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/em\u003e, \n\u003cem\u003eForeign Affairs\u003c\/em\u003e, \n\u003cem\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/em\u003e, \n\u003cem\u003eNew York Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e, and \n\u003cem\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"W. W. 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