American Life

Cho-yun Hsu, an internationally recognized authority on ancient Chinese history and comparative civilizations, earned his PhD from the University of Chicago. He was Professor Emeritus of History and Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, and elected Academician of Academia Sinica in Taiwan. He has authored or coauthored numerous publications, including China: A New Cultural History (2012), Western Chou Civilization (1988), Han Agriculture: The Formation of the Early Chinese Agrarian Economy (1980), and Ancient China in Transition: An Analysis of Social Mobility (1965).Carissa Fletcher specializes in academic and historical translation. She holds a Master's degree in Mandarin and English translation from the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Her previous translation titles include The East Turkestan Independence Movement, 1930s to 1940s by Wang Ke, and The Language Situation in China (Volume 5 and Volume 6), edited by Li Yuming and Li Wei.

This book represents reminiscences from the life of a sojourner, and it is a diagnostic report dissecting the ills of American society, or still more a moving epic brimming with pensive lament, as it vividly outlines how the American social and political system has moved step by step toward decline." —Yun-han Chu, Academician of Academia Sinica"As someone who has lived in and written about China and Taiwan for many years, I found this a brilliant turning of the tables: an astute long-term resident of the United States, using his lens as someone raised in the greater China world, to look at America's problems and foibles. One of the great contemporary thinkers in the Sinophone world, Cho-yun Hsu gives us a lucid explanation of the problems he sees engulfing his adopted homeland and the lessons from the Chinese world that might help save it." —Ian Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author"Professor Cho-yun Hsu has provided a compelling account of life in America since the late 1960s to date—its ups and downs, glories and challenges, and dreams and compromises. His vantage point as a Chinese historian informs his reflections and insights into a nation in troubled times." —David Der-wei Wang, Harvard University