Ezra F. Vogel - 'Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China'

Once described by Mao Zedong as a "needle inside a ball of cotton," Deng Xiaoping was the pragmatic yet disciplined driving force behind China's radical transformation in the late 20th century. This landmark biography in English by historian Ezra F. Vogel charts Deng's tumultuous rise to power, during which he endured accusations, purges and even exile before becoming China's preeminent leader in the late 70's and through the 1980's. Ezra F. Vogel is in conversation with Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society.

Followed by a book sale and signing.

Read an excerpt from Deng Xiaoping

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Ezra F. Vogel is a Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus at Harvard University and has written multiple books on Japan, China and Asia. The Japanese edition of Professor Vogel's book Japan as Number One: Lessons for America (1979) remains the all-time best-seller in Japan of non-fiction by a Western author. He officially retired in 2000 but remains active in research and East Asia-related activities.

Presented in conjunction with the Center for US-China Relations.

“Not just a definitive biography of a world-class leader, but also the most authoritative and riveting account of the secretly contrived U.S.-Chinese strategic accommodation of 1978 and of how that in turn facilitated China’s domestic transformation.” — Zbigniew Brzezinski

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