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Jeffrey Wasserstrom is Chancellor's Professor of History at UC Irvine, where he holds a courtesy appointment in Law and Literary Journalism. He is the author of five previous books, including China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know (co-authored by Maura Elizabeth Cunningham) and Eight Juxtapositions: China through Imperfect Analogies from Mark Twain to Manchukuo. His most recent edited volume is The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China. He writes for leading academic journals and contributes to The New York Times, The Times Literary Supplement, The Atlantic and the Los Angeles Review of Books. He is an adviser to the Hong Kong International Literary Festival and a former member of the Board of Directors of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.
A remarkable, and remarkably succinct, analysis of the ongoing crisis in Hong Kong. This is essential reading for understanding China's foreign policy, the legacies of empire and above all the extraordinary politics, society and culture of contemporary Hong Kong. -Julia Lovell, Professor of modern China at Birkbeck, University of London and author of Maoism: A Global History Jeffrey Wasserstrom has long been a master of unearthing shared resonances in the human experience across ages and in different societies. With Vigil, he has not only produced a surefooted guide to the turmoil shaking Hong Kong, but a richly insightful look at how recent events there fit into the broader sweep of history. -Howard W. French, author of Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China's Push for Global Power This is an essential primer to understand the factors driving the most serious challenge to Beijing since the 1989 protest movement. Written clearly and concisely, it offers a handy background briefing to Hong Kong's political crisis. -Louisa Lim, author of The People's Republic of Amnesia and Tiananmen Revisited A concise yet pertinent analysis of why and how Hong Kong exploded into months of escalating protests in 2019. Wasserstrom combines the deep knowledge of a historian and the captivating voice of literary writing. The result is an account that weaves together objective historical parallels and subjective sentiments that have driven Hong Kong's various waves of protest. -Victoria Tin-bor Hui, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Notre Dame As illuminating as it is beautiful. -- Yangyang Cheng, Particle physicist at Cornell University and Columnist at SupChina
