Richard Bernstein studied Chinese history at Harvard before becoming one of the first American journalists to be stationed in the People’s Republic of China, opening the Time bureau in Beijing in 1980. He then spent twenty-five years as a staff correspondent for the New York Times for which he has reported from more than two dozen countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa. In between these postings he was the Times’ National Cultural Correspondent and a daily book critic.
Mr. Bernstein’s articles and commentaries have appeared in The New Republic, the International Herald Tribune, Foreign Affairs, and the New York Review of Books. He is the author of nine books including, Ultimate Journey: Retracing the Path of an Ancient Buddhist Monk Who Crossed Asia in Search of Enlightenment. His new book is China 1945: Mao’s Revolution and America’s Fateful Choice.
Mr. Bernstein examined the first time American power and good intentions came face-to-face with a powerful Asian revolutionary movement. Mr. Bernstein mapped out the details—from ferocious infighting among U.S. leaders to the complexities between Mao and Stalin—challenging the assumptions of modern Sino-American relations and their origin.
