Book: Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China

It has become commonplace in commentary on China to qualify one's observations with an acknowledgement that the country's scale and pace of change precludes the articulation of any coherent, overarching narrative. Accounts of the country tend now – and not without good reason – to focus on evaluating specific aspects of the culture, society, economy or political system, or to tease out anecdotal insight through individual portraits.