James Fallows on Big in China

“Big in China vividly conveys the open-ended, chaotic, wonder and possibility of being a foreigner in today’s China. Alan Paul’s evolution from expat-village ‘trailing spouse’ to star of the Chinese music scene stands for countless similar developments underway in China. I hope many people read this book—and consider a similar adventure themselves.”
– James Fallows, author of Postcards from Tomorrow Square (and many other books)

James Fallows has been a favorite writer of mine for many years in many different formats, most prominently as both a blogger and national correspondent for the Atlantic. I read his blog daily and recommend you do the same. Becky and I met James and his wife Deborah several times after they arrived in Beijing not long after us – the start of our second year, I believe.

The closeness I feel to Mr. Fallows likely owes more to consistently reading his conversational, approachable writing style than it does to a few meetings and several memorable email correspondences over five or six years. I have always found him to be a voice of reason – thoughtful, patient and humane. Because of the great respect I have for his work, I was truly touched by his agreeing to read an advance copy of Big in China and offer a quote for the back cover.