This audacious and illuminating memoir reflects on forty years of learning about and interacting with the People's Republic of China, from the height of Maoism during the author's UC Berkeley student days in the volatile 1960s through globalization. <p><b>Richard Baum</b> was distinguished professor of political science at UCLA and director emeritus of the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies. <p>"A fascinating, vivid, and personally honest book that is revealing about China itself and the efforts of outsiders to make sense of China's policies and prospects." <b>-James Fallows</b>, national correspondent for the <i>Atlantic Monthly</i><p>"ÏIn his vivacious memoir, leading American Sinologist Richard Baum recalls a time when just getting your hands on an internal Party document was enough to launch a career." <i>-New York Review of Books</i>