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The previous biography of Jiang Zemin dates to 1998 (Tiger on the
Brink: Jiang Zemin and China's New Elite, by Bruce Gilley), justifying a
refresher on the now-retired leader of China.
Kuhn's portrait is
positive, frequently laudatory, and liberally doses its chronicle of
Jiang's life with anecdotes from his friends and family. Kuhn's work does
not often criticize the official policies and actions of China under
Jiang's leadership, seeming content with describing them. This approach
gives the work a year-in-review hue--for each year of Jiang's political
life, Kuhn paraphrases his speeches, gives details of his meetings with
foreign leaders, and quotes at length his interviews with journalists.
In presenting the avuncular, English-speaking Jiang's public
persona, Kuhn pins his activities to the consensus-driven political mores
of the Chinese Communist Party's top echelons and leverages the politics
China watchers will demand from the author's info-packed
biography. |
