PositiveThe Boston GlobeThe author simply does not have enough material to discuss Xi Jinping’s inner life in any detail, other than some of the early parts. So motives are scarce: We see what he has done, but not always why. Nevertheless, for readers who have not been following the news from China closely in recent years, this is an excellent primer on how life in the PRC has transformed under his rule ... Behind the claims of restoring China’s historical greatness, once the work of consolidation is done, what comes next?The author, unfortunately, largely avoids this question ... This book is timely and informative, but it is not a book to ease one’s fears about the future.
Tania Branigan
RaveThe Wall Street JournalThe stories the author relates are not, strictly speaking, secrets—most of the people Ms. Branigan interviews are already looking for listeners; they want to be heard, to perform, to share, to connect—and she gives them the opportunity to do that for a foreign audience. This is a book about their search for meaning, even when the search comes up short ... Ms. Branigan is a sympathetic narrator, but not a naive one ... Evocative.
Timothy Brook
PositiveThe Wall Street JournalMr. Brook...has written a work that is less a history of China than a kaleidoscope of fragmentary images conjured from equally fragmentary historical sources ... The structure of Mr. Brook’s book requires a certain amount of patience from the reader. Great State can meander and take its time; it can follow tangents that don’t always turn up answers. But Mr. Brook is an elegant, thoughtful writer and an engaging and interesting guide, even if it’s not always clear where he is taking us ... an elliptic, allusive book like this one has its place. And Great State is a delight to read ... These sections can be entrancing, and there is something wonderfully dizzying about the image of China that emerges ... Despite appearances, this is not a book about how China’s past shapes its present; it is a book about China’s past. Readers looking for connections to today must find them for themselves.