Anne F. Thurston is the former director of the Grassroots China Initiative and senior research professor at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. She has written or edited many books about China, including Enemies of the People: The Ordeal of the Intellectuals in China’s Great Cultural Revolution (1987); A Chinese Odyssey: The Life and Times of a Chinese Dissident (1991); Li Zhisui’s The Private Life of Chairman Mao (1994), and, with Gyalo Thondup, The Noodle Maker of Kalimpong: The Untold Story of My Struggle for Tibet (2015).
Engaging China offers a nuanced understanding that there was no single framework, assumption, or motivation behind the increasing interdependence with China that developed after 1971. Moreover, the volume demonstrates that there was connectivity and thinking about relations well before 1971. The book will be an essential textbook for students, resource for policy makers, and a good read for the general public. -- Michael J. Green, author of <i>By More than Providence: Grand Strategy and American Power in the Asia Pacific Since 1783</i>