Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction finalistWinner of the 2014 National Book Award in nonfiction. As the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, Evan Osnos was on the ground in China for years, witness to profound political, economic, and cultural upheaval. Age of Ambition provides a vibrant, colorful, and revelatory inner history of China during a moment of profound transformation. From abroad, we often see China as a caricature: a nation of pragmatic plutocrats and ruthlessly dedicated students destined to rule the global economy-or an addled Goliath, riddled with corruption and on the edge of stagnation. What we don't see is how both powerful and ordinary people are remaking their lives as their country dramatically changes.In Age of Ambition, Osnos describes the greatest collision taking place in that country: the clash between the rise of the individual and the Communist Party's struggle to retain control. He asks probing questions: Why does a government with more success lifting people from poverty than any civilization in history choose to put strict restraints on freedom of expression? Why do millions of young Chinese professionals-fluent in English and devoted to Western pop culture-consider themselves "angry youth," dedicated to resisting the West's influence? How are Chinese from all strata finding meaning after two decades of the relentless pursuit of wealth?Writing with great narrative verve and a keen sense of irony, Osnos follows the moving stories of everyday people and reveals life in the new China to be a battleground between aspiration and authoritarianism, in which only one can prevail.An Economist Best Book of 2014.Winner of the bronze medal for the Council on Foreign Relations' 2015 Arthur Ross Book Award

CONTENTSPrologue Part I: Fortune1. Unfettered 2. The Call 3. Baptized in Civilization 4. Appetites of the Mind 5. No Longer a Slave 6. Cutthroat 7. Acquired Taste Part II: Truth8. Dancing in Shackles 9. Liberty Leading the People 10. Miracles and Magic Engines 11. A Chorus of Soloists 12. The Art of Resistance 13. Seven Sentences 14. The Germ in the Henhouse 15. Sandstorm 16. Lightning Storm 17. All That Glitters 18. The Hard Truth Part III: Faith19. The Spiritual Void 20. Passing By 21. Soulcraft 22. Culture Wars 23. True Believers 24. Breaking Out Epilogue Note on Sources Acknowledgments Index