Next Wednesday (4/29) at UC Berkeley.
events.berkeley.edu/History/even...

Out today!

[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “For Novice and Expert: Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑊𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝐾𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎 (𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑊𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐴𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝐴𝑠𝑘)” by Susan Blumberg-Kason 茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “For Novice and Expert: Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s Everything You Wanted to Know About China (But Were Afraid to Ask)” by Susan Blum…

Delighted to have two reviews of my very short new book, come out in Cha: chajournal.com/2026/04/20/e... (review by Jennifer Eagleton, a versatile & thoughtful Hong Kong-based writer) & chajournal.com/2026/04/20/a... (a review by Susan Blumberg-Kason, a versatile & thoughtful Chicago-based writer)

Very fun and rewarding to contribute a chapter (“Waste into Treasure” and “Harms into Benefits”: Comprehensive Utilization and Industrial Pollution in the Mao Era) to this volume, looking forward to holding it in my hands

LARB Quarterly #48: 15th Anniversary Issue | Los Angeles Review of Books

Thrilled that my essay, "Fear and Writing in Xinjiang," was chosen by the editors of the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social to be included in their 15th Anniversary Anthology!

Thanks to @jwassers.bsky.social and @bspivey.bsky.social for commissioning the piece and for their editorial work!

Kafka goes to China The journey of Franz Kafka’s works from Europe to Mao-era China shaped generations of writers.

The journey of Franz Kafka’s works from Europe to Mao-era China shaped generations of writers.

Kafka goes to China | Jeffrey Wasserstrom

engelsbergideas.com/essays/kafka...

Glad to see this double review by @paulkreitman.bsky.social finally out... "For all these reasons, the distance between here and Hong Kong feels less like a chasm than a gap."

[Roundtable Discussion] Gen Z Protests in Pacific Rim Cities, 2019 to 2024 Prof. Jeffrey Wasserstrom (University of California, Irvine) joined by Prof. Judy Tzu-Chun Wu (University of California, Irvine) and Prof. Ju Hui Judy Han (UCLA)

Next week I'll be part of an event up at UCLA www.international.ucla.edu/burkle/event...

Taiwan, Hong Kong, Columbia | Los Angeles Review of Books Chris Horton’s ‘Ghost Nation’ and Ching Kwan Lee’s ‘Forever Hong Kong’ follow protesters and revolutionaries who, successfully or otherwise, challenged the power of the state.

Paul Kreitman on important new books on Taiwan (by Chris Horton) & Hong Kong (by Ching Kwan Lee) lareviewofbooks.org/article/ghos...

The covers of I Deliver Parcels in Beijing and Breakneck against a background

"'It’s precisely the analysis Silicon Valley and Washington need as it oscillates between China envy and China fear." Afra Wang on "Breakneck" and "I Deliver Parcels in Beijing": lareviewofbooks.org/article/china-us-competi...

John Dower cooking on the Enola Gay controversy

The Miseducation of Xi Jinping How a father’s struggle revealed the price of power.

Huge thanks to @asiasociety.org Orville Schell and @foreignaffairs.com for this long and wonderful new review of my book The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping

www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/mise...

Great cover! I’m really delighted to be a part of this, much thanks to @mmuscolino.bsky.social

Check out the UWP website for more info: uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...

Can Tragedies Transcend Borders? | Los Angeles Review of Books Amy R. Wong explores Nan Z. Da’s “The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear.”

lareviewofbooks.org/article/can-... "WE NEED King Lear to understand Chinese history, and we need Chinese history to understand King Lear. This is the bold, opening premise of literary scholar Nan Z. Da’s extraordinary new Princeton University Press book, The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear."

First time I’ve had a book reviewed in @foreignaffairs.com so especially pleased by having this short take on The Milk Tea Alliance www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/milk... to go with earlier ones in Cha, The Inside Story, & @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...

Yes, please join! Discord could be really useful for the community

The Microchip Titans | Los Angeles Review of Books Mason Wong reviews three books related to US-China tech industries and global competition.

I wrote for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social on Palantir, the chip industry, US-China competition, and what tech firms mean when they talk about "defending Western civilization."

Thanks to @jwassers.bsky.social, @bspivey.bsky.social, and the LARB team for the edits!

lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...

Maoist Environmental Protection in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution YouTube video by Australian Centre on China in the World

Here's my recent talk at CIW about how a Maoist approach to "environmental protection" emerged during the Cultural Revolution--an important period wherein many leaders and people began to seriously think about and grapple with the externalities of industrialization.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfpC...

To Outlive Tyranny - Dissent Magazine Flesh and blood alone cannot halt the advance of iron and steel. To stop the tanks, we need people to place blocks on the road and throw sand into the gears.

So grateful to write for @dissentmag.bsky.social's Fall 2025 issue "Authoritarianism and Resistance." I drafted the piece in June with the new school year in mind, as an immigrant scholar severed from her homeland: What can we teach the young about how to exist and persist at this historic juncture?

Weekly Wanderings: September 7, 2025 And we’re back! I, of course, thought that taking August “off” would enable me to get completely caught up on life. The books I would read! The closets I would organize! The freezer I would restock…

Weekly Wanderings returns after a late-summer hiatus, with new book recommendations, lots of China links, interesting stories from around the world, and Tiya Miles on searching for the right words.

The Technopolitics of China’s Yarlung Tsangpo Dam Project and the Paradox of Hydropower | Made in China Journal Three years after announcing their intent to construct a mega-dam along the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) River as part of the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan, Chinese officials gave their approval to proce...

From Sanmenxia and Three Gorges to the Yarlung Tsangpo Dam, China has long relied on monumental hydropower to prove state capacity. @zenel25.bsky.social and @pguer.bsky.social show how such projects, while promising development and security, often deepen the very insecurities they claim to resolve.

Literary journal Meanjin to close after 85 years of publishing Meanjin, a mainstay of Australia's cultural landscape and the nation's second-oldest literary publication, is shuttering after Melbourne University Publishing decided to cease financial support.

Sad news 😔

www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/04/m...

“August Journalism” Studies: Lessons in World War II Reporting from Japan’s Season of Remembrance - Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus […]

A new essay from me synthesizing the rich body of media criticism in Japanese focused on the practice of "August journalism" (八月ジャーナリズム): the tendency for rehearsed, compressed, and hollowed-out coverage of war memory each August.

apjjf.org/2025/9/fedman

The Art of the Interview and the Craft of the Profile: A UCI Forum for the Academy and the Public Book Launch An in-person event, open to the public, no rsvp needed

I've given talks about my new @columbiagr.bsky.social book at various places (including in Culver City at @wendemuseum.bsky.social), but this October 20 dual book launch with Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow at @ucirvine.bsky.social will be my first in Orange County www.humanities.uci.edu/events/art-i...

One Island, Many Histories | Los Angeles Review of Books Michelle T. King reviews Catherine Lila Chou and Mark Harrison’s “Revolutionary Taiwan” and Anna Beth Keim’s “Heaven Does Not Block All Roads.”

lareviewofbooks.org/article/one-...

Jeffrey Wasserstrom on China, Protest and Asia’s Struggle against Autocracy - Leiden Asia Centre China is changing the world—and the world is responding. In just a few decades, China has gone from isolated state to global powerhouse, reshaping politics, culture, and the fight for democracy across...

Looking forward to giving my first talks ever in the Netherlands October 22-24, first link up is for one I'll give in The Hague (sponsored by the University of Leiden's Asia Centre) on the 23rd: leidenasiacentre.nl/event/jeffre... cc @hvistendahl.bsky.social @krishraghav.bsky.social

🥹 Can't ask for a better review by @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social: "A stunning tale of government violence, organized protest, and radical hope... In its depiction of commitment, cowardice, and change, You Must Take Part in Revolution proves both heartbreaking and heartening." 🔗 bit.ly/larb-revolution

Brian Spivey - "Maoist Environmental Protection in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" | AUSTRALIAN CENTRE ON CHINA IN THE WORLD This talk examines the emergence of Maoist environmentalism in the People's Republic of China during the latter stages of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and amid the worldwide awakening to enviro...

What did "environmental protection" 环境保护 mean in the Cultural Revolution? How did revolutionary Maoists approach pollution and other environmental problems caused by industrialization? 🇨🇳 🏭 ♻️

Talking about this on Thu 18 Sept, 4–5:30pm @ CIW (Canberra) (in person, recording later)

shorturl.at/MIDTs

Emergency Unending | Los Angeles Review of Books Darren Wan reviews Hai Fan’s “Delicious Hunger,” translated by Jeremy Tiang, as well as Tiang’s own novel, “State of Emergency.”

lareviewofbooks.org/article/emer...