Podcast appearances and mentions of Howard French

C'est l'un des essais historiques en lien avec l'Afrique les plus attendus de cette rentrée. Les éditions Calmann-Lévy publient la traduction en français de l'ouvrage d'Howard French Born in Blackness. L'universitaire et journaliste américain y décrit, au travers d'une fresque de plusieurs siècles, le rôle - selon lui - central de la traite négrière dans la naissance du monde moderne. Un rôle qui dit-il a souvent été sous-estimé, voire invisibilisé. La traduction française de ce livre est intitulée Noires origines. Howard French est notre invité pour en parler. RFI : Dans Noires Origines, vous nous invitez à nous débarrasser d'un certain nombre d'œillères historiques sur la place de l'Afrique dans l'histoire mondiale et sur le rôle essentiel qu'elle a joué dans la construction de l'Occident tel qu'on le connaît aujourd'hui. Vous nous expliquez que l'essor européen a reposé en grande partie sur ses relations avec le continent africain avant même la colonisation...Howard French : Effectivement, l'histoire de mon livre commence au XIVᵉ siècle, au début de ce siècle, quand les Africains, notamment dans l'empire du Mali, réalisent des contacts avec le Moyen-Orient. Ce faisant, l'Europe découvre l'existence d'une grande quantité d'or dans le Sahel, ce qu'on appelle le Sahel aujourd'hui. Et cela lance l'ère de l'exploration, des découvertes… et la traite des esclaves. L'année 1326, un empereur du Mali du nom de Mansa Moussa a fait un pèlerinage à La Mecque en passant par Le Caire. Il transportait avec lui un grand cortège de plus de 10 000 hommes et femmes… et aussi quelques tonnes d'or - la quantité exacte n'est pas connue, mais les historiens disent souvent à peu près 17 ou 18 tonnes d'or -. Il a distribué tout cet or sur son passage, à tel point qu'il a dû emprunter de l'argent pour retourner au Mali. Et cela a créé une vague de curiosité non seulement dans le Moyen-Orient, où le prix de l'or a chuté, mais aussi loin aussi que l'Espagne et le Portugal. Et cela les a encouragés, surtout les Portugais, à commencer à construire des navires pour essayer de découvrir le point d'origine de ces métaux.  Vous nous livrez des pages fascinantes sur la façon dont l'Europe a fantasmé cet or africain, à partir d'ailleurs d'une représentation du monde : l'atlas catalan de 1375. Comment est-ce que cet atlas a été l'un des points de départ de l'histoire tragique qui va suivre ? Au centre de cette carte, de cet atlas catalan, figure le personnage de l'empereur Mansa Moussa. Il est assis sur un trône d'or avec un sceptre d'or. C'est la première fois que les Européens prennent connaissance de l'existence de grands empereurs en Afrique subsaharienne, des empereurs de la même sorte que ceux qu'ils ont chez eux. Cela crée toute une industrie de créateurs d'atlas et de cartes. Ça lance à côté une industrie de géographes pour savoir ce qui existe au sud du Sahara. Les Européens, pour la première fois, sont motivés à un degré extrême à découvrir le chemin de l'or en Afrique et à prendre contact avec les royaumes africains pour savoir d'où vient cet or. C'est l'un des points importants de votre ouvrage, Howard French : Vous soutenez la thèse, dans ce livre, que la recherche avide de cet or africain par les Portugais a été l'un des moteurs des grandes explorations portugaises… et que ce moteur a été complètement oublié de l'histoire. Effectivement, le Portugal avait une rivalité avec l'Espagne… et le Portugal avait pris les devants dans l'exploration du Nouveau Monde. À l'époque, le Nouveau monde n'était pas l'Amérique. Les Européens disaient de l'Afrique subsaharienne qu'elle était le nouveau monde. La dynastie Aviz au Portugal a donc donné l'autorité à un prince, Henri, dit « le navigateur », de prendre en charge l'exploration de l'Afrique subsaharienne. C'est lui qui montait les expéditions maritimes pour chercher à savoir d'où vient l'or du Mali. Avec les moyens de l'époque, les Portugais ne pouvaient avancer en une année typique que de 100 kilomètres ou 200 kilomètres vers le sud en suivant la côte africaine. En 1471, ils sont arrivés par hasard au pays qu'on appelle aujourd'hui le Ghana. Ils ne ciblaient pas le Ghana, mais il y avait une baie naturelle où ils se sont arrêtés pour ravitailler leurs navires en eau et en nourriture. Et en arrivant là, ils ont découvert que tous les habitants de ce lieu portaient des bijoux en or. Ils n'étaient pas arrivés au Mali, mais ils ont réalisé leur but un peu par accident, si vous voulez. Donc ils ont établi des relations de commerce au début avec les Ghanéens pour avoir accès à l'or du Ghana, pour établir un commerce entre l'Europe et l'Afrique. Ce commerce a permis d'apporter d'abondantes quantités d'or dans les cours européennes et notamment au Portugal. Quelle a été l'importance de cet or obtenu en Afrique pour les économies européennes, à la charnière du Moyen Âge et de l'époque moderne? Parlons d'abord du Portugal. Les quantités d'or étaient si importantes pour le Portugal, qui était un royaume pauvre à l'époque, qu'ils ont renommé leur Trésor « maison de l'Afrique ». Le Trésor public portugais a été renommé « la Maison de l'Afrique », Vu l'importance de l'or africain dans ces caisses portugaises de l'époque ? Oui, à l'époque, après la découverte de l'or au Ghana, à peu près un tiers, jusqu'à la moitié des recettes de ce royaume venaient désormais du Ghana. Et donc, les Espagnols, en voyant le succès des Portugais, ont à leur tour décidé d'investir dans la création de navires et le financement de gens comme Christophe Colomb pour « découvrir les Amériques » tel qu'on le dit maintenant. Mais ce n'est qu'en voyant la réussite des Portugais, avec la découverte de l'or en Afrique, que les Européens ont eu le courage d'essayer de découvrir de l'or ailleurs. Ça, c'était le premier but. Ce n'était pas de découvrir d'autres civilisations ou la richesse de l'Est en tant que telle, il s'agissait de rivaliser avec le Portugal pour le contrôle de l'or dans le monde. Quels liens est-ce que vous établissez entre cette exploitation de l'or et le commerce terrible qui va commencer à se développer rapidement ensuite, à savoir la traite esclavagiste ? Les racines de la traite esclavagiste sont très intéressantes. Au début, ce n'était pas le but des Européens et précisément des Portugais. Le Portugal était un royaume assez pauvre, qui n'avait pas beaucoup de ressources. Et donc, pour financer la recherche de l'or et la construction des bateaux nécessaires à cette recherche, Henri le navigateur et ses hommes ont commencé à faire, petit à petit, le commerce d'esclaves sur les côtes de l'Afrique : dans la Mauritanie d'aujourd'hui, au Sénégal, en Guinée, etc. Au fur et à mesure qu'ils descendaient vers le sud en suivant les côtes de l'Afrique jusqu'à ce qu'ils trouvent de l'or au Ghana. Et donc dans un premier lieu, ils ont fait le commerce d'hommes, d'esclaves vers l'Europe pour financer cet effort de découverte de l'or. l'Europe était en phase de reprise économique avec la catastrophe de la peste du Moyen âge… et donc la démographie européenne était écrasée par ces épidémies. Les Portugais ont découvert qu'ils pouvaient faire beaucoup d'argent en fournissant de la main d'œuvre africaine dans les marchés européens pour finalement financer leur effort de découverte de la source de l'or en Afrique de l'Ouest. Au XVIᵉ siècle, 10 à 15 % de la population de Lisbonne était africaine à cause de cette traite esclavagiste. Bien avant la soi-disant « découverte » des Amériques. On parle du Portugal, mais en fait toutes les puissances européennes à l'époque sont associées à ce commerce... Exactement. Ayant vu le succès des Portugais, les autres pays européens se sont rués sur ce commerce avec l'Afrique pour l'or. En faisant cela, ils ont découvert à leur tour qu'on pouvait faire beaucoup d'argent en se livrant à la traite des esclaves. Par accident aussi, par la suite, les Portugais ont découvert le Brésil. Ils ne cherchaient pas à traverser l'Atlantique. Ils cherchaient à mettre au point des méthodes de navigation plus efficaces, plus rapides, pour descendre vers le sud de l'Afrique et finalement entrer dans l'océan Indien. En faisant cela, ils sont « entrés en collision », si on peut dire, avec le Brésil. Ils ont découvert tout un continent. Les Portugais ont commencé à transférer les esclaves au Brésil, où s'est établie la première grande industrie de la canne à sucre. Cette industrie, découvre-t-on dans votre livre, trouve une de ses formes les plus abominables dans le système des plantations sucrières, à Sao Tomé dans un premier temps, puis dans les Caraïbes… et également au Brésil peut-être ? Oui. Les premières expérimentations ont effectivement été réalisées à Sao Tomé. Les Portugais, à la fin de ce XVᵉ siècle, explorant l'Afrique à la recherche d'autres sources d'or, ont découvert l'île de Sao Tomé, qui n'avait pas d'habitants et avait un climat parfait pour la culture de la canne à sucre. Et donc ils ont commencé à cultiver la canne à sucre, et toute une industrie est née de cela. Avec la naissance de cette industrie est aussi née une forme d'exploitation humaine qui n'avait jamais existé auparavant, qu'on appelle en anglais chattel slavery - Je pense que ce terme n'existe pas en français -. Chattel slavery, c'est une forme d'esclavage où les esclaves sont identifiés. Cette pratique est légitimée sur la base de la race et pérennisée à travers les générations : c'est-à-dire que non seulement vous êtes esclaves vous-même, mais vos enfants aussi seront esclaves, et ainsi de suite pour l'éternité.  Les formes de travail qui sont mises en place dans ces plantations sucrières sont par ailleurs extrêmement brutales pour les esclaves… Extrêmement brutales. L'espérance de vie d'un esclave mis au travail sur ces plantations à l'époque, et aussi par la suite au Brésil et dans les Caraïbes, était à peu près de cinq ans.  Après la production du sucre, c'est celle du coton qui a été développée par le commerce des esclaves. Au total, Howard French, vous décrivez une mécanique qui convertit des vies prises en Afrique, en richesses consommées en Europe. Vous montrez finalement comment l'Afrique a joué un rôle essentiel dans la construction du monde atlantique... Oui, j'irais encore plus loin : le travail qui a été extrait des Africains sur les plantations, sous cette forme d'esclavage qu'on appelle chattel slavery, a réellement été la base de l'essor européen et de la création, je dirais, de l'Occident, une sorte de condominium entre l'Europe de l'Ouest et les continents qui existent de l'autre côté de l'Atlantique. C'est le travail des Africains, sous forme d'esclavage, qui a rendu possible la rentabilité des colonies qui ont été fondées dans le Nouveau Monde et donc la fondation même de l'Occident.De quelle manière est-ce que les pouvoirs africains de ces différentes époques ont réagi à ces appétits européens ? Les Africains, les chefs des sociétés africaines, les petits rois et même les empereurs qui existaient par-ci par-là dans les grands États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest et de l'Afrique centrale, n'avaient aucune idée des activités qui existaient de l'autre côté de l'Atlantique, où les Africains extraits du continent étaient mis au service des Européens. Ils n'avaient aucune image du monde des plantations. Ils n'avaient aucune image de l'existence d'une institution comme le chattel slavery dont j'ai parlé tout à l'heure. L'esclavage a existé depuis toujours chez les Africains, entre les Africains, mais ce n'est pas ce genre d'esclavage, où de génération en génération les gens sont toujours soumis à l'esclavage. Les Africains mariaient leurs esclaves… Sous les institutions de l'esclavage africain comme elles existaient, le but, la plupart du temps, était d'assimiler les esclaves, les vaincus, dans la société des vainqueurs. C'est tout à fait différent de l'esclavage pratiqué par l'Europe sur les Africains, cet esclavage que j'ai appelé chattel slavery. Donc il est bien vrai que les Africains participaient aussi à ce commerce des esclaves. Ils sont aussi responsables de ce commerce d'esclaves, mais ils n'avaient pas une information très complète sur ce qui se tramait. Il y avait un déséquilibre total entre les Européens et les Africains sur ce qu'est l'esclavage. On sent bien tout au long de votre ouvrage quelle est son ambition : contribuer à un autre récit sur l'histoire du décollage de l'Occident, dans lequel le rôle de la traite négrière cesserait d'être invisibilisé. Comment expliquez-vous d'ailleurs cette invisibilisation du rôle de l'Afrique dans la naissance du monde moderne ? Pourquoi ? Je pense que tout d'abord, toutes les civilisations cherchent à trouver leur propre mérite. Elles cherchent à mettre en exergue leurs propres qualités et donc, pour faire cela, elles créent leurs propres mythes. Que ce soit les Chinois, les Américains, les Français, les Brésiliens, les Russes, tout le monde fait ça... Mais si vous admettez que votre civilisation est montée en grande partie par une exploitation aussi grave et d'une aussi grande envergure que la traite des esclaves, le monde des plantations, la création d'une institution comme le chattel slavery, il est très difficile de maintenir ses propres qualités. Une dernière question, justement, à propos des enjeux de cette histoire. Pourquoi est-il important pour un citoyen du XXIᵉ siècle de remonter le temps et de réétudier ce qui s'est joué le long des côtes africaines à partir du XVᵉ siècle ? Il faut savoir d'où nous sommes venus pour savoir où nous allons aller. Au moment où l'Afrique prend une place différente dans le monde contemporain, il est important qu'on sache que l'Afrique a toujours contribué à la race humaine de façon importante. Il est important de remettre l'Afrique à sa propre place dans l'histoire de l'humanité. 

Reframing six centuries of world history in a single book is no easy feat. Doing it in lively, engaging prose that keeps you hooked the whole way through is even harder. But such is the talent of Howard French, longtime foreign correspondent and author of Born in Blackness, our Devex Book Club selection for this month. For more information on upcoming episodes and to sign up for our mailing list, visit the Devex Book Club here: https://pages.devex.com/devex-book-club.html

Reframing six centuries of world history in a single book is no easy feat. Doing it in lively, engaging prose that keeps you hooked the whole way through is even harder. But such is the talent of Howard French, longtime foreign correspondent and author of Born in Blackness, our Devex Book Club selection for this month. For more information on upcoming episodes and to sign up for our mailing list, visit the Devex Book Club here: https://pages.devex.com/devex-book-club.html

 Howard French is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and a former New York Times bureau chief for the Caribbean and Central America, West and Central Africa, Tokyo, and Shanghai. His book re-frames the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe's dehumanizing engagement with the “dark” continent.

In this week's Fire Drill: Ryan French, Alan Shipnuck and Michael Bamberger discuss yet another Patrick Reed controversy, Max Homa's win at Torrey Pines, the next LIV deflector, the return of Anthony Kim and much more!     This episode is dedicated to the memory of Howard French. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

December 23, 2022--Host Joy LaClaire talks with Columbia University Journalism Professor, Howard French, about his award-winning book, BORN IN BLACKNESS: AFRICA, AFRICANS, AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD - 1471 TO THE SECOND WORLD WAR.

In this review from The Monkey Cage's African Politics Summer Reading Spectacular, Laura Seay tells us that Born in Blackness is a compelling, unforgettable read.  Hear the full review on today's bonus episode!Review read by Ami Tamakloe.Books, Links, & ArticlesBorn in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War by Howard French"Born in Blackness is a compelling, unforgettable read" by Laura Seay

Power talker, Pan African Educator & Historian Dr. Kabe Kamane returns to our classroom and explains how Spiritual Philosophy was based on agricultural science. Before Dr. Kabe, Dr. Frances Toni Draper from the Afro-American Newspapers will share how the newspapers are thriving in the digital age. Following Dr. Draper, Publisher Paul Coates & writer Howard French on the exploitation of African Americans during the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. Text DCnews to 52140 For Local & Exclusive News Sent Directly To You! The Big Show starts on WOL 95.9 FM & 1450 AM, 1010 AM WOLB and woldcnews.com at 6 am ET., 5 am CT., 3 am PT., and 11 am BST. Call in # 800 450 7876 to participate, & listen liveSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's episode, Mike Casey interviews Howard French, the author of the urgent and essential book Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War.  It is, simply, one of the most important books I've read. I encourage you to read it and wrestle with its implications.Howard is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and a former New York Times bureau chief for the Caribbean and Central America, West and Central Africa, Tokyo, and Shanghai.In our discussion, we explore the role his career as a reporter in the Atlantic basin played in inspiring him to write Born in Blackness, several of the themes in his book, the findings that most surprised him during his research, and the role Africa and Africans might play in the 21st Century.Speaking with Howard was a genuine privilege.I hope that you enjoy our conversation and that you come away with a yearning to learn more.This podcast was recorded in June 2022.—————Learn more about the book.Learn more about Howard.Follow Howard on Twitter.Read Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò's superb review of Born in Blackness in Foreign Affairs.On the inadequacy of the word “plantation” to describe the conditions of slavery, see, for example, chapter 1 (“The Property”) in C.L.R. James's The Black Jacobins.—————Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel's community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here. (Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico's founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as many other music NFTs; his Sound collector profile is available here).

Welcome to Black Perspectives the working title of my new monthly podcast  on critical issues and history in the black community.  It is sponsored in part by PEN America. In this inaugural episode, we feature an interview with Howard French, author of BORN IN BLACKNESS: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1461 to the Second World War.  Traversing 600 years, Born in Blackness retells the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in America, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe's dehumanizing engagement with the “darkest” continent.  

Howard French has written an acclaimed new book putting Africa and Africans front and centre in their contribution to the making of the modern world.

Dr. Greg Carr weaves a discussion around the potential war through Howard French's "Born in Blackness," #Kanye #LorettaLynch and celebration of master educator Jacob Carruthers. #InClasswithCarr #GregCarr #BorninBlacknessTo Join KNARRATIVE: https://www.knarrative.com

On this week's episode of the Parley in All Blue Podcast, Mark sits down with Howard W. French, an author and a professor of journalism at Columbia University. Today's discussion delves deep into Professor French's book: Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War. Highlights from the episode:Price of Gold Mansa MusaEurope in 1471The Fort of El MinaPortugal & West  Africa Resources: Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World WarConnect with Mark Dawson:Instagram: @iammarkdawsonLinkedIN: @mark-a-dawsonWebsite: www.bentonmuse.comTwitter: @Iammarkdawson

This is the first episode of the Into Africa podcast with new host Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, who joined the CSIS Africa Program as director and senior fellow in December 2021. Mvemba speaks with author Howard French about his newest book, Born in Blackness. They discuss French's research process, the outsized role that São Tomé played in the modernity of the Western world, and how plantations—or, more accurately, prison labor camps—were the most important economic innovation of the modern age prior to the industrial revolution. French also describes the West's centuries-long attempt to strip Africans of their identity, and how Africans and the diaspora are working together along identity lines to win back their rightful place. Born in Blackness (W. W. Norton & Company)

Lisa is hosting solo today and is joined by Howard French to talk about his latest book, Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War.  Howard French is a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Prior to joining the Columbia faculty, in 2008, he was a reporter and senior writer for The New York Times, where he worked as a foreign correspondent for more than two decades. During this time, French served as the paper's bureau chief in Shanghai, Tokyo, Abidjan and Miami (covering Central America and the Caribbean).French's documentary photography has featured in solo and group exhibitions on four continents, and collected by the Mildred Lane Kemper Museum in St. Louis.For more information about his work, please visit his website: howardwfrench.com or follow him on twitter: @hofrench.Book Description: Revealing the central yet intentionally obliterated role of Africa in the creation of modernity, Born in Blackness vitally reframes our understanding of world history.Traditional accounts of the making of the modern world afford a place of primacy to European history. Some credit the fifteenth-century Age of Discovery and the maritime connection it established between West and East; others the accidental unearthing of the “New World.” Still others point to the development of the scientific method, or the spread of Judeo-Christian beliefs; and so on, ad infinitum. The history of Africa, by contrast, has long been relegated to the remote outskirts of our global story. What if, instead, we put Africa and Africans at the very center of our thinking about the origins of modernity?In a sweeping narrative spanning more than six centuries, Howard W. French does just that, for Born in Blackness vitally reframes the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe's dehumanizing engagement with the “dark” continent. In fact, French reveals, the first impetus for the Age of Discovery was not―as we are so often told, even today―Europe's yearning for ties with Asia, but rather its centuries-old desire to forge a trade in gold with legendarily rich Black societies sequestered away in the heart of West Africa.Creating a historical narrative that begins with the commencement of commercial relations between Portugal and Africa in the fifteenth century and ends with the onset of World War II, Born in Blackness interweaves precise historical detail with poignant, personal reportage. In so doing, it dramatically retrieves the lives of major African historical figures, from the unimaginably rich medieval emperors who traded with the Near East and beyond, to the Kongo sovereigns who heroically battled seventeenth-century European powers, to the ex-slaves who liberated Haitians from bondage and profoundly altered the course of American history.While French cogently demonstrates the centrality of Africa to the rise of the modern world, Born in Blackness becomes, at the same time, a far more significant narrative, one that reveals a long-concealed history of trivialization and, more often, elision in depictions of African history throughout the last five hundred years. As French shows, the achievements of sovereign African nations and their now-far-flung peoples have time and again been etiolated and deliberately erased from modern history. As the West ascended, their stories―siloed and piecemeal―were swept into secluded corners, thus setting the stage for the hagiographic “rise of the West” theories that have endured to this day.

Tommy and Ben talk about Trump's endorsement of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and what it says about the future of democracy, the latest on Biden's efforts to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine, China and Lithuania, a major election in Chile, and a look ahead at some of the world's most important elections in 2022. Then Ben talks with author Howard French about his new book “Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Interview with Professor Howard French from December 2021.

https://www.alainguillot.com/howard-french/ Howard Waring French is a journalist, author, and photographer, as well as professor since 2008 at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His book is Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War. Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3oRf6uv

Howard French has written an acclaimed new book putting Africa and Africans front and centre in their contribution to the making of the modern world.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the United States and its allies enjoyed a near monopoly on economic, military and ideological power in a suddenly unipolar world. Over the decade and a half that followed, the U.S. emerged as the dominant power atop a liberal international order in large part shaped by its preferences.  But the rise of China and resurgence of Russia as great power competitors has challenged Washington's global leadership role, while offering new options to countries seeking alternatives to the U.S.-led order. That coincides with the emergence within the U.S. and other Western democracies of movements questioning the foundations of that order. Combined, these trends have significantly weakened the United States' ability to maintain its hegemonic position in a rapidly transforming international landscape. This week on a special edition of Trend Lines, Daniel Nexon joins WPR weekly columnist Howard French to discuss the rapidly changing global order and the United States' place in it. Nexon is a professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. With Alexander Cooley, he is the co-author of “Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order.” If you would like to request a full transcript of the episode, please send an email to podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com. Relevant Articles on WPR: The U.S. Still Makes for a Tough Competitor Against China   The U.S. and China Are Both Failing the Global Leadership Test   America's ‘Return' Might Not Be Enough to Revive the West The Liberal World Order Is Dying. What Comes Next? Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie. To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.

The Agenda

The history of Europe's Age of Exploration and Empire usually follows a familiar narrative. Starting in the late 15th century, European explorers set out to find maritime trade routes to the lucrative spice and textile markets of Asia. Happening by chance upon the “New World” of the Americas, they quickly established colonies whose wealth, mainly in the form of gold and silver, combined with advances in military technology, propelled what would become known as the West to centuries of global dominance that has only begun to wane today. In this narrative, Africa and Africans are all but invisible, except as a tragic footnote when it comes to the history and legacy of slavery. WPR columnist Howard French's fifth and latest book, “Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War,” convincingly argues that almost everything about this familiar narrative is wrong. Far from being peripheral to the Age of Exploration, Africa was in fact the central focus of its early period. And far from being anecdotal to the wealth and power generated by Europe's colonies in the Americas, Africans were the irreplaceable producers of it. This week on Trend Lines, Howard French joins WPR's Judah Grunstein to discuss “Born in Blackness,” which will be released on Oct.12 and is already available for pre-order. Howard is a career foreign correspondent and global affairs writer. From 1990 to 2008, he reported overseas for The New York Times, serving as bureau chief for Central America and the Caribbean, West and Central Africa, Japan and the Koreas, and China. He is a member of the board of the Columbia Journalism Review and a professor at the Columbia Journalism School. His website is HowardWFrench.com, his Twitter handle is @hofrench, and his weekly WPR column appears every Wednesday. If you would like to request a full transcript of the episode, please send an email to podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com. Relevant Articles on WPR: African Urbanization Is a Matter of Global Importance   Haiti's Crisis Is Familiar. Its History, Less So   Africa's ‘Big States Crisis' Has Deep Historical Roots   Africa's ‘Demographic Dividend' Won't Pay Off Without Purpose and Policy  Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie. To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.

[produced & aired, 2017] This past weekend over a 150, 000 people were in Washington, DC to protest and call attention to the ever-increasing violent reality of climate change. The devastating effects are already being felt across the planet and can no longer be denied, despite the best efforts of those who choose to ignore the facts. And the continent of Africa is feeling every bit its violent effects. The 2011 drought-induced famine in the Horn of Africa affected more than 10 million people, claimed 257,000 lives and cost over $1 billion in damages. The Africa Adaptation Gap Report by the UN Environment Programme warns that climate change could reduce total crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa by as much as 20% by 2070. Additionally, a projected sea-level rise in Tanzania of 70 centimeters by 2070 could devastate the port city of Dar es Salaam, its largest and richest city and a major player in East Africa trade, and cost the country about $10 billion in property damages and related losses. Environmentalists warn that rising sea levels could cause severe flooding, submerge land and destroy African coastal ecosystems. Africa World Now Project's executive producer; international journalist and human rights advocate recently sat with activist Matheca Mawinda, Executive Director at Pan African Climate Justice Alliance and Cecile Ndjebet Coordinating African Network of Community Management of Forrest, to discuss this crisis in greater detail. Next, you will hear a presentation on the Africa-China question from a symposium titled Africa and World in the 21st Century. Howard French in his work, China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa estimates that there are currently at least a million Chinese living in sub-Saharan Africa and says that may be a conservative figure. Several countries alone (Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique) have a hundred thousand each. Others have fairly decent sized enclaves or Chinese towns, often of ten thousand people. Africans have said for years that the Chinese isolate themselves, that they don't integrate, though French shows that there are numerous exceptions to that, especially when Chinese males have married African women and started families. There is little question, however, that often these enclaves have sprung up because in many places Chinese companies have brought their own workers to complete a specific project. What is the role of China in Africa? How do we understand the implications of this role in the context of a 21st century global economy? What are the new social, economic, and potential political formations that are being produced from China in Africa? What about Africa in China? Africa has a long historical record of interacting with China…what are the contemporary possibilities of Africa reversing the influence? After all, W. E. B. Du Bios writing in his 1947 work: The World and Africa suggests that Chinese ships traded directly with Africa from the 8th to the 12th centuries. These and a myriad of other important questions come to mind when exploring the China-Africa question. Our show was produced today in solidarity with the Native/Indigenous, African and Afro Descendant communities at Standing Rock, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Kenya, Palestine, South Africa, and Ghana and other places who are fighting for the protection of our land for the benefit of all peoples!

CGD's Gyude Moore and journalist Howard French discuss US perceptions of Africa, the business opportunities the US is leaving on the table, and how policy changes could benefit both the US and African countries. 

The ongoing trade war with China, a weakened global economy, and a lack of investment by companies indicates that a recession might be looming. President Trump has spent his first term saying that the economy is in better shape than ever before, but is that really the case? Who stands to suffer most during another recession? Has the trade war with China fulfilled President Trump's objective for the economy? Also, when it comes to understanding economic opportunity in Africa, the continent is still largely overlooked by the West. We look at the African Continental Free Trade Area and the opportunities it could unlock.  Finally, a conversation with the political heavy-hitter from New Hampshire that Democratic hopefuls are trying to woo. This episode was guest hosted by Duarte Geraldino.  Guests: Nancy Cook, White House Reporter, POLITICO  Andria Smythe, Assistant Professor of Economics at Howard University David Luke, Coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Howard French, Journalism Professor at Columbia University and former New York Times foreign bureau chief in Africa and China Carlos Cardona, Laconia Democratic Party Chair

On this week's show, recorded live in New York on April 3, Kaiser and Jeremy have a wide-ranging chat with former New York Times China correspondent Howard French, now a professor at Columbia University's School of Journalism. We talk about his book Everything Under the Heavens and China's ambitions and anxieties in the world today. What to listen for on this week’s Sinica Podcast: 7:31: How do Chinese people react to Western reporting about China? Howard has noticed a shift in his students from the People’s Republic of China and suggests, “Because of the changing climate in China, [Chinese students] have a greater appreciation of some of the liberties that go into being able to express criticism about China or being able to think off the beaten path about China.” 23:48: The three discuss Howard’s book, Everything Under The Heavens, and some of the themes in it. Howard: “So the argument that runs through the book is that, if not DNA, then these two realities of [China’s] longevity and continuity on the one hand, and size on the other hand, have created habits of language and habits of mind and patterns of diplomacy that are fairly consistent, but we can see them repeating themselves in variations over a very, very long period of time.” 32:56: Is China a revisionist power or a status quo power? Before Jeremy can finish asking this question, Howard replies, “It’s both.” Howard explains how this could be possible: “There is an insistent notion in China that I admire. I don’t think it’s always to China’s benefit, but I admire the instinct, if instinct is the right world. ‘For every problem we should find a Chinese way to answer it.’ And so, if international relations can be construed as a problem…then finding a Chinese way alongside of accepting incumbent arrangements is a reflex that one is likely to continue to see in China.” 44:46: The relationship between the United States and China appears to have arrived at a critical juncture. In response to Kaiser’s request to provide a prognosis for U.S.-China relations, Howard contests that “most of the liability of the present moment is actually bound up in the present moment.” He continues, “There will be consequences to pay even if Trump goes [in 2020]…and that the United States, I think, no matter what happens in the succession year after Trump, in the best of scenarios, will still have surrendered some not inconsiderable part of its prestige and power in the world.” Recommendations: Jeremy: The Idle Parent: Why Laid-Back Parents Raise Happier and Healthy Kids, by Tom Hodgkinson, a case for laissez-faire parenting. Howard: Empires of the Weak: The Real Story of European Expansion and the Creation of the New World Order, by J.C. Sharman, and River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom, by Walter Johnson. Kaiser: An article in the London Review of Books, Is this the end of the American century?, by Adam Tooze.

What exactly is China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)? What is the place of BRI in Xi Jinping’s foreign policy? What countries are involved in this massive project, and what is the likelihood that the grandest ambitions of BRI will be realized? Is China actually not a maritime power, but, rather, an aspiring continental power? Nadège Rolland and Brad Carson discuss these issues and much more in the new episode of “Jaw-Jaw.” If you'd like to read a full transcript of this episode, click here.  Biographies Nadège Rolland is senior fellow for political and security affairs at the National Bureau of Asian Research. Her research focuses mainly on China’s foreign and defense policy and the changes in regional dynamics across Eurasia resulting from the rise of China. Before joining the National Bureau of Asian Research, Rolland was an analyst and senior adviser on Asian and Chinese strategic issues to the French Ministry of Defense (1994–2014). She is the author of the book China’s Eurasian Century? Political and Strategic Implications of the Belt and Road Initiative (2017). Her articles have appeared in various publications, including the Washington Quarterly, Foreign Policy, the Diplomat, the Asian Open Forum, the Lowy Institute Interpreter, and Strategic Asia, and her commentary has been published by the Wall Street Journal, Libération, Les Echos, the Indian National Interest, Radio Free Asia, and BBC World Service. Brad Carson is a professor at the University of Virginia, where he teaches in the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001-2005 and was undersecretary of the army and acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness in the Obama administration. He welcomes comments at brad.carson@warontherocks.com. Links Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, (Vintage, 2016) Howard French, Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China's Push for Global Power, (Knopf, 2017) Robert Van Gulik, Judge Dee Mysteries, (University of Chicago Press, 2010)   Music and Production by Tre Hester

Jho Low makes a bid for T.H.E. Audio Book Club hall of fame

In this week’s episode of Sinica, Kaiser chats with Bonnie Glaser in a crossover show that will appear both on Sinica and on the ChinaPower Podcast from CSIS, the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Bonnie is a well-known specialist on China’s security issues, and this week, we tour several locations where the Chinese military has evolving plans: the Korean Peninsula, Japan, the South China Sea, and Taiwan. Recommendations: Bonnie: Two books that examine how China’s history influences its current push for global power: Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China's Push for Global Power, a book by Howard French, and The China Order: Centralia, World Empire, and the Nature of Chinese Power, by Wang Fei-ling. Bonnie says that the latter is a more academic book with amazing sourcing from Chinese documents, and the two books provide phenomenal knowledge on China’s historical relations with its neighbors when paired together. Kaiser: Chinese Characters, a podcast series on BBC Radio 4 by Rana Mitter, which explores the lives of people who were significant or emblematic throughout Chinese history. Notable personalities include Deng Xiaoping, Empress Wu Zetian, and China’s factory girls.

Howard French is the author of two books on Africa and three books on China, with one of those books being about China's booming ties with Africa. The more recent Africa book, "China's Second Continent," is about the million Chinese who have emigrated to the African continent since the 1990s and what they mean for China and for Africa. His newest book, “Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China’s Push for Global Power,” is a meditation on China's historical self image and what that means for China's current political leadership. In this interview, he talks about post-reform China's interaction with Africa. Currently a professor on the faculty of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, French for many years was a senior writer for The New York Times. From 2003 to July 2008, he was the newspaper's Shanghai bureau chief. Before his China assignment, French headed bureaus in Japan, West and Central Africa, and for Central America and the Caribbean.

China was one of the world's great powers for most of the past couple thousand years, and back on its heels only for a couple of centuries, as the Industrial Revolution took off and European colonialism expanded. Now, China's drawing on its past and moving with deliberation to reclaim what many Chinese feel is China's rightful place in the world. The challenges are many, but with slowing economic growth, an aging population and uncertain future challenges from within and outside China's borders, there's incentive to act now to cement China's place as a regional if not global leader. And that's what China's leaders are doing, drawing on their past for inspiration. Host Mary Kay Magistad talks with Howard French, author of "Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China's Path to Global Power."

Howard French, former New York Times China correspondent and author of the new book Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China's Push for Global Power, discusses China's territorial ambitions, and how they harbor potential for conflict with the United States — especially in a "very dangerous period" over the next 10 to 15 years.

Author Howard French discusses his new book Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Shapes China's Push for Global Power. Until the mid-19th century, China occupied the premier place in East Asia’s political order. Exercising cultural and political hegemony through a set of tributary relationships with its neighbors, China’s imperial bureaucrats developed a conception of rule different from the Westphalian idea of individual nation states. After more than a century of political turmoil, China is once again asserting itself on the global stage, and many observers have interpreted China’s present ambitions as an attempt to restore its former glory. Combining journalistic and historical research methods, Howard French delves into the link between contemporary China and its imperial past in his new book. Howard French is a former New York Times reporter, and an expert on China. In Everything Under the Heavens, he examines how China’s leaders understand their own history, and analyzes the ideological, philosophical, and legal implications of this intellectual heritage. He also explains what this means for U.S.-China relations going forward. Mr. French joined the National Committee in New York City on May 2 to discuss his book and strategies for engaging a resurgent China with Senior Director for Education Programs Margot Landman. Howard French is an associate professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and former bureau chief for The New York Times in Central America and the Caribbean, West and Central Africa, Japan, and China. He is the recipient of two Overseas Press Club awards and a two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee. He is the author of A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa and China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa. He has written for The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and Rolling Stone, among other national publications. 

Author Howard French discusses his new book Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Shapes China's Push for Global Power. Until the mid-19th century, China occupied the premier place in East Asia’s political order. Exercising cultural and political hegemony through a set of tributary relationships with its neighbors, China’s imperial bureaucrats developed a conception of rule different from the Westphalian idea of individual nation states. After more than a century of political turmoil, China is once again asserting itself on the global stage, and many observers have interpreted China’s present ambitions as an attempt to restore its former glory. Combining journalistic and historical research methods, Howard French delves into the link between contemporary China and its imperial past in his new book. Howard French is a former New York Times reporter, and an expert on China. In Everything Under the Heavens, he examines how China’s leaders understand their own history, and analyzes the ideological, philosophical, and legal implications of this intellectual heritage. He also explains what this means for U.S.-China relations going forward. Mr. French joined the National Committee in New York City on May 2 to discuss his book and strategies for engaging a resurgent China with Senior Director for Education Programs Margot Landman. Howard French is an associate professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and former bureau chief for The New York Times in Central America and the Caribbean, West and Central Africa, Japan, and China. He is the recipient of two Overseas Press Club awards and a two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee. He is the author of A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa and China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa. He has written for The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and Rolling Stone, among other national publications.   

With a history spanning millennia, China can play the long game. And it has been, according to Howard French. By championing globalization and Eurasian integration, rapidly expanding its military capabilities, and making contentious regional territorial claims, among others, China is asserting its previously-obscured ambitions. As America reassesses the terms of its global engagement, how will Beijing pursue its historical objectives? How does the past inform China's current actions and future plans, and how should President Trump interact with Beijing?

John Holden has one word of advice for people trying to understand China: humility. "Anybody who tries to come to grips with China, a country with a very rich civilization, a long history... You just have to be humble in recognizing that there are things you will get wrong, things you will miss," he says around the 36-minute mark of this week's episode. John is one to know. After completing his master's degree in Chinese language and literature at Stanford University in 1980, he worked on a project to translate the Encyclopedia Britannica into Chinese. In 1981, he served as an interpreter for National Geographic during an expedition along the Yellow River. From 1986 to 1998, he was chairman of the China branch of Cargill, a large multinational company, and from there he went on to provide high-level consulting and business leadership to a number of firms working in the nation. He also served as president of the National Committee on United States–China Relations from 1998 to 2005, was chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, and currently holds a position with the Asia program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In addition, he is associate dean with the Yenching Academy of Peking University, which offers a master's degree in China studies. Being humble isn't the only advice John has for people trying to understand China. Business leaders looking for insight should listen around the 27-minute mark. There John explains the value of taking the time to "double down" on researching the local market and mastering customer communication on Chinese social media. And if you want a peek at the personalities of some of China's top political leaders of the past, check out the 18-minute mark or so, where John discusses meeting with the "very, very smart" Wu Yi and Zhu Rongji. Amid all of the changes John has witnessed in China over the past several decades — he notes its business environment has become increasingly competitive and challenging for foreign firms, and access to political leaders has become more difficult — he has also observed at least one steadfast feature: "That drive to be more open and to learn and to study — that is the most salient feature of my experience with China over the past 35 years, and it's still very much there today," he says near the 12-minute point of the podcast. At the present, John sees China at a crossroads of rapid economic and political change that is fueling a stream of news reports about the nation becoming more closed to foreign culture and investment. He is hopeful it is just a phase of the development of an increasingly complex country. "China has been a story in my lifetime of two steps forward, one step back," he says around the 26-minute mark. "We may be one step back at the moment." Recommendations: John: Review of the American Chamber of Commerce's involvement in China: "AmCham China Legacy: A Better Business Environment," by Graham Norris, and The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present, by John Pomfret. Jeremy: Article from the South China Morning Post about Cuban-Chinese: "Lost in Cuba: China’s ‘forgotten diaspora'" Kaiser: Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China's Push for Global Power, by Howard French. Ada: The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, by Ian Johnson.

In this week's episode we catch up with the homie Chelsea, an up and coming movie director who's collaborated with the likes of Spike Lee and many more. We also caught up with the homie Destinee, who runs her own Travel Leisure Group "Chasing Destinee" and she also hosts a series of other events throughout the city. Cr3w member Dre does the first ever call in to the podcast from overseas in St. Lucia. In this episode, we talk about politics and Obama...Overt/Covert Racism...New shows we're watching...Luke Cage being fluke...Martin vs Fresh Prince...and much more...Give us a listen and PLEASE subscribe, share, rate, and review us on iTunes!!! Come to the Cr3w Presents: Are You Afraid of the Dark Day Party, Saturday, Oct. 29th 4-10pm with the costumes ready. For tickets please go to the link below (use PROMO CODE: balanc3): http://try.thewhimapp.com/cr3whalloween Please checkout Destinee's upcoming travel trips at: www.chasingdestinee.com Check out some of Chelsea's directing work here: www.ochelsy.com Book Suggestions: Lil Wayne - "Gone 'Til November: A Journal Of Rikers Island Book" Iyanla Vanzant - "The Spirit of a Man: A Vision of Transformation for Black Men and the Women Who Love Them" Howard French - "China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa" Robert Kiyosaki - "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" Yaa Gyasi - "Homegoing: A novel" Need studio time for a podcast, record music, or anything else audio? Contact Us!!! info@thecr3went.com we'll hook you up! Follow us on IG: @cr3w.ent @chelsthedirector_ @chasingdestinee @dre_da_prophet @b.wil___ @iamjoshwells #Cr3wShit #DoSomething #VibeHi #PositiveVibes

Human rights activist and writer Ben Rawlence speaks about his new book, City of Thorns, which deals with daily life and the struggle for survival in the world’s largest refugee camp. Speakers: Howard French, Ben Rawlence. (Recorded: Jan 06, 2016)

Aly-Khan Satchu, CEO of Rich Management (http://rich.co.ke), interviews Howard French, author of "China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa", to discuss Chinese migration in Africa and Africa-China affairs broadly. This is a shortened version of the original interview from 2014, which we have been granted permission to post on this podcast. The original interview can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgNOkyZXD0Q.

The journalist Howard French spent a career covering West Africa and China for the New York Times. He stumbled into journalism somewhat accidentally while living in the Ivory Coast and has reported from the Liberian civil war, conflict in DR Congo, and covered social upheavals in China.  Now out with a book about China's complex relationship with Africa, Howard sits down with Mark to discuss his unique path to become one of America's most respected journalists and observers of West Africa. Have a listen! 

China may be sincere in its belief that its engagement in Africa is not neo-colonial or imperial in nature but author Howard French argues that may be what ultimately happens if Beijing continues on its current path. In his provocative new book, China's Second Continent, French travels across the continent to survey Chinese and African opinions about the PRC's expansive embrace of Africa. What he discovers offers both hope and concern for the future of the Chinese in Africa.

Howard French discusses his new book "China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa"

An artist paints landscapes of faraway places that she cannot identify in order to find her place in the global economy. A migrant worker sorts recyclables and thinks deeply about the soul of his country, while a Taoist mystic struggles to keep his traditions alive. An entrepreneur capitalizes on a growing car culture by trying to convince people not to buy cars. And a 90-year-old woman remembers how the oldest neighborhoods of her city used to be. These are the exciting and saddening, humorous and confusing stories of utterly ordinary people who are living through China's extraordinary transformations. The immense variety in the lives of these Chinese characters hints at China's great diversity. Chinese Characters is a collection of portraits by some of the top people working on China today. Contributors include a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, a Macarthur Fellow, the China correspondent for a major Indian newspaper, and scholars. Their depth of understanding is matched only by the humanity with which they treat their subjects. Their stories together create a multi-faceted portrait of a country in motion. This volume contains some of the best writing on China today. Contributors include: Alec Ash, James Carter, Leslie T. Chang, Xujun Eberlein, Harriet Evans, Anna Greenspan, Peter Hessler, Ian Johnson, Ananth Krishnan, Christina Larson, Michelle Dammon Loyalka, James Millward, Evan Osnos, Jeffrey Prescott, Megan Shank, with cover photos by Howard French. -- Angilee Shah is a freelance journalist and editor in Los Angeles. She has reported from across Asia, including China, Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, and was a South Asian Journalists Association Reporting Fellow in 2007-8. She is a former editor of the online magazine AsiaMedia and a consulting editor to the Journal of Asian Studies. Her writing has appeared in the Far Eastern Economic Review, Mother Jones Online, Pacific Standard, the LA Weekly, TimeOut Singapore, and Global Voices. She is the co-editor of Chinese Characters: Profiles of Fast-Changing Lives in a Fast-Changing Land (UC Press, 2012). Jeffrey Wasserstrom is the author of four books on China and the editor or co-editor of several more, including most recently Chinese Characters: Profiles of Fast-Changing Lives in a Fast-Changing Land, which contains chapters by both fellow academics and such acclaimed journalists as Peter Hessler, Leslie T. Chang, Evan Osnos, and Ian Johnson. Wasserstrom is a Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine and the Editor of the Journal of Asian Studies. He is also the Asia editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, an Associate Fellow of the Asia Society, and a co-founder of the "China Beat" blog. James Carter is Professor of History at Saint Joseph's University. He has lived and traveled widely in China, is the author of a history of Harbin and of Heart of China, Heart of Buddha: The Life of Tanxu, a Twentieth Century Monk (Oxford 2010), and is the editor of the journal Twentieth-Century China. He is a past president of the Historical Society for 20th-Century China and a Public Intellectuals Program fellow of the National Committee on United States-China Relations.

An artist paints landscapes of faraway places that she cannot identify in order to find her place in the global economy. A migrant worker sorts recyclables and thinks deeply about the soul of his country, while a Taoist mystic struggles to keep his traditions alive. An entrepreneur capitalizes on a growing car culture by trying to convince people not to buy cars. And a 90-year-old woman remembers how the oldest neighborhoods of her city used to be. These are the exciting and saddening, humorous and confusing stories of utterly ordinary people who are living through China's extraordinary transformations. The immense variety in the lives of these Chinese characters hints at China's great diversity. Chinese Characters is a collection of portraits by some of the top people working on China today. Contributors include a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, a Macarthur Fellow, the China correspondent for a major Indian newspaper, and scholars. Their depth of understanding is matched only by the humanity with which they treat their subjects. Their stories together create a multi-faceted portrait of a country in motion. This volume contains some of the best writing on China today. Contributors include: Alec Ash, James Carter, Leslie T. Chang, Xujun Eberlein, Harriet Evans, Anna Greenspan, Peter Hessler, Ian Johnson, Ananth Krishnan, Christina Larson, Michelle Dammon Loyalka, James Millward, Evan Osnos, Jeffrey Prescott, Megan Shank, with cover photos by Howard French. -- Angilee Shah is a freelance journalist and editor in Los Angeles. She has reported from across Asia, including China, Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, and was a South Asian Journalists Association Reporting Fellow in 2007-8. She is a former editor of the online magazine AsiaMedia and a consulting editor to the Journal of Asian Studies. Her writing has appeared in the Far Eastern Economic Review, Mother Jones Online, Pacific Standard, the LA Weekly, TimeOut Singapore, and Global Voices. She is the co-editor of Chinese Characters: Profiles of Fast-Changing Lives in a Fast-Changing Land (UC Press, 2012). Jeffrey Wasserstrom is the author of four books on China and the editor or co-editor of several more, including most recently Chinese Characters: Profiles of Fast-Changing Lives in a Fast-Changing Land, which contains chapters by both fellow academics and such acclaimed journalists as Peter Hessler, Leslie T. Chang, Evan Osnos, and Ian Johnson. Wasserstrom is a Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine and the Editor of the Journal of Asian Studies. He is also the Asia editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, an Associate Fellow of the Asia Society, and a co-founder of the "China Beat" blog. James Carter is Professor of History at Saint Joseph's University. He has lived and traveled widely in China, is the author of a history of Harbin and of Heart of China, Heart of Buddha: The Life of Tanxu, a Twentieth Century Monk (Oxford 2010), and is the editor of the journal Twentieth-Century China. He is a past president of the Historical Society for 20th-Century China and a Public Intellectuals Program fellow of the National Committee on United States-China Relations.