Litty Maria Emmanuel Maria Emmanuel itibaren Washoe County, NV, USA itibaren Washoe County, NV, USA

An okay travelogue, if taken as such, but I wasn't really buying Winchester's journey through Chinese history angle. Interesting meditations on the Three Gorges dam, Shanghai circa 1996 (an eternity ago in Shanghai history), and the Opium and Tea trades, but the content is choppy. His tone seems derogatory, and although he vows at one point not to "make judgements about China lightly," he puts down everything from the Chinese demeanor to Sichuan fire peppers (which he claims smell too "soapy.") Modern China is a difficult place to take, agreed, but, I sensed a closed mind, not what I would expect from an otherwise great writer.