PositiveLos Angeles Review of Books[Johnson\'s] focus is not on character studies, though he profiles some individuals well, but on publications, documentary films, and archives ... Importantly, Johnson reaches beyond Beijing and China’s largest central and southern cities ... Given how much Johnson stresses the ties of memory to specific places, we may want to ask more than he does about the implications of this mediated disconnection from place.
Tania Branigan
PositiveLos Angeles Review of BooksBranigan... writes in an elegiac, humane, and sympathetic tone ... Branigan’s book is mostly reportage but also meditation. She wants to know what it all means, not just for the political future of China but also for understanding human nature and the place of memory in society.
