The Party Forever: Inside China’s Modern Communist Elite

As journalist Callick, Asia-Pacific editor for the Australian, notes, “China is not a totalitarian dictatorship, but nor is it a democracy.” Here, he delineates the permeable links between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and education, business, the legal system, the military, the media, art, pop culture, publishing, and Confucius. Informed by his experiences as a Beijing-based China correspondent and the connections he made while there, Callick offers a detailed account of CCP youth today. He describes learning to be a communist at one of the 2,000 party schools, what it’s like to be one of the 3,000 delegates at the National People’s Congress, how the really wealthy live, and how dissenters are treated (the book includes an interview with Nobel Peace Prize–winner Liu Xiaobo). In presenting the argument that one-party rule will continue, the book also offers brief profiles of and interviews with a diverse array of politically powerful figures, as well as ordinary citizens. Even readers who have never wondered about life in the CCP will find the book insightful and informative. Agent: Sophy Williams, Black Inc. Books. (Sept.)