Named one of the Financial Times 's Best Books of 2024 in History "Almost every page contains an eye-opening detail. The Great Transformation evokes the multiple paths, ideas and possibilities that have shaped, and continue to shape, China's present."--Julia Lovell, Financial Times "By choosing to begin with Mao's final years, Messrs. Westad and Chen build a strong case for their account of how and why events played out after the leader's death."--Maura Elizabeth Cunningham, Wall Street Journal "[A] compelling book by two of the best historians of the modern Chinese experience."--Tony Barber, Financial Times "Odd Arne Westad and Chen Jian make an effective partnership. [They] expertly and authoritatively cover events inside and outside China during a momentous time in the country's history."--Kerry Brown, Literary Review " The Great Transformation offers a rich and nuanced interpretation of the 'long 1970s' as a critical turning point in modern Chinese history.

"--Stefan Messingschlager, Neue Politische Literatur "To understand today's China and where it may be going it is necessary to understand how it got to here--the politics, the pressures, the trade-offs, and legacy of the 'The Long 1970s.' You can do no better in this regard than start by reading The Great Transformation ."--Martin Petersen, The Cipher "Westad and Chen have written a masterful account of China's modernization that illuminates the path it took to emerge as America's only true peer competitor."--Graham Allison, author of Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap? "In The Great Transformation , Odd Arne Westad and Chen Jian ask a fresh question: How did the People's Republic of China emerge from the lunacies of the Cultural Revolution and embark on the path to prosperity--a market-based industrialization that prior to 1978 would have been denounced as the 'capitalist road'? Deeply researched and clearly written, this new account of a transformative period gives due weight to the local and international forces at work--as well as to the roads not taken, which might have been more liberal politically but less effective economically."--Niall Ferguson, author of Civilization: The West and the Rest and Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist.