China Whisperers

From one of the most prominent post-Cold War geopolitics experts, an “illuminating, insightful, and essential” (Chris Miller, bestselling author of Chip War) look at US-China relations and the China experts who have influenced—and continue to influence—America’s policy toward its greatest rival.Few countries or civilizations are as big or as old as China. In the minds of Americans whose job it is to contemplate international affairs, the present-day superpower has always been more than just the “ultimate place”: quite simply, it is the essential foreign policy challenge—one frequently thought incapable of being solved. Enter the China Whisperers—those of the past and the present. A hundred years ago, they were American missionaries, travelers, journalists, linguists, and foreign service officers who were on the ground, fluent in Mandarin, and enamored of the culture. They were the true China experts, and over a period of a few transformative decades they had front-row seats to the...

The cheapest new copy of China Whisperers is £22.00 at Waterstones. Prices checked 6 Nov 2026

More by Robert D. Kaplan

More by Robert D. Kaplan