Reading Recommendations From the FCC’s Distinguished Guest Speakers
With countries around the world in and out of lockdown due to COVID-19, 2020 has provided ample opportunities for many to catch up on reading.
If you’re on the hunt for your next great read, look no further than this list of book recommendations from the FCC’s distinguished guest speakers, including Noam Chomsky, Joseph Stiglitz, Lingling Wei and many more.
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
The China editor of Axios appeared on October 5 as part of a panel discussing Beijing’s influence on Hollywood. She recommended The War on the Uyghurs by Sean. R Roberts; and Outsourcing Empire: How Company-States Made the Modern World by Professor Andrew Phillips.
Ben Bland
Author and journalist, Ben Bland, appeared on September 22 to talk about Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo. Bland recommended the book, The Secret World: A History of Intelligence by Christopher Andrew. Bland is the author of Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia.
Dr. Sarah Borwein
Appearing on an October 22 Zoom panel to discuss the future of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Sarah Borwein recommended The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Shape Modern China by Jonathan Kaufman.
Noam Chomsky
The world’s most influential public intellectual and linguist joined a Zoom webinar on August 7. He recommended two of his own books that examine the media: Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, and Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies.
Antony Dapiran
Lawyer and author of City on Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong Antony Dapiran appeared at the FCC for a November 12 lunch event. He recommended Half the Perfect World: Writers, Dreamers and Drifters on Hydra, 1955-1964 by Paul Genoni and Tanya Dalziell, Summer by Ali Smith, and Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Rebecca Davis
Variety‘s China bureau chief appeared on October 5 as part of a panel discussing Beijing’s influence on Hollywood. She recommended The Utopia of Rules by David Graeber.
Jiayang Fan
Appearing at an October 20 Zoom event, New Yorker staff writer Jiayang Fan recommended A Life’s Work: On Becoming a Mother by Rachel Cusk as well as Yang Jisheng’s forthcoming The World Turned Upside Down: A History of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Mary E. Gallagher
Mary E. Gallagher, professor at The University of Michigan and director of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies, joined a panel discussion on August 12 on the new China-U.S. Cold War. Her recommended reads exploring American history were Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild, and The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker (Chicago Studies in American Politics) by Katherine J. Cramer.
Bonnie Glaser
Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia and the director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), appeared on a panel discussion on August 12 on the new China-U.S. Cold War. Her recommendations, which focused on China, were China’s Western Horizon: Beijing and the New Geopolitics of Eurasia by Daniel Markey; Superpower Interrupted: The Chinese History of the World by Michael Schuman; and The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu. Joining another panel discussion on November 20, she said she looked forward to reading The World: A Brief Introduction by Richard Haass.
Stan Grant
Award-winning journalist and filmmaker Stan Grant appeared via Zoom on August 18, and recommended the following books: The Light That Failed: Why the West Is Losing the Fight for Democracy by Stephen Holmes and Ivan Krastev, Without God: Michel Houellebecq and Materialist Horror by Louis Betty, and The Devil in History: Communism, Fascism, and Some Lessons of the Twentieth Century by Vladimir Tismaneanu.
Mara Hvistendahl
Investigative reporter Mara Hvistendahl, author of The Scientist and the Spy, participated in a November 23 Zoom interview to discuss the process of reporting her second book as well as her experience working as a journalist in China. She recommended two books: Rodham: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld, and previous FCC guest speaker Thomas Kent’s Striking Back: Overt and Covert Options to Combat Russian Disinformation.
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion, democracy campaigner and author of Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins, was our special guest on August 27 when he discussed China and U.S. politics. He was reading three books: Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold and Heroes: Mortals and Monsters, Quests and Adventures by Stephen Fry and Churchill: Walking with Destiny by Andrew Roberts.
Thomas Kent
Disinformation expert and author of Striking Back: Overt and Covert Options to Combat Russian Disinformation, Thomas Kent, appeared on an October 15 panel to discuss fake news around the U.S. election. His recommended read was Do Morals Matter?: Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump by Joseph S. Jr. Nye.
Kishore Mahbubani
Kishore Mahbubani, Asia scholar and author of Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy, recommended A Different Sky by Meira Chand, a book that tells the story of his home country, Singapore, when he joined us on August 10.
Rana Mitter
Appearing on October 7 to discuss his latest book, China’s Good War: How World War II is Shaping a New Nationalism, Professor Rana Mitter recommended Chinese Thought: From Confucius to Cook Ding by Roel Sterckz, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
John Nicholls
Appearing on an October 22 Zoom panel to discuss the future of the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor John Nicholls recommended Lords of the Desert: The Battle Between the United States and Great Britain for Supremacy in the Modern Middle East by James Barr.
Suzanne Nossel
Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America and author of Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All, appeared by Zoom on August 5 and recommended a book by our guest from a month earlier, John Bolton: The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir. She also endorsed Intimations: Six Essays by Zadie Smith.
Tom Orlik
Bloomberg’s chief economist appeared on a November 20 Zoom panel to discuss how the Biden administration will manage its relationship with China. During the talk, he recommended two books on Russia: Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire by David Remnick, and All the Kremlin’s Men: Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin by Mikhail Zygar.
Admiral Bill Owens
Admiral Bill Owens, formerly the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, revealed he was reading America in the World: A History of U.S. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy when he appeared at a September 2 webinar.
Elyse Samuels
Washington Post visual forensics video reporter, Elyse Samuels, appeared on an October 15 panel to discuss fake news around the U.S. election. She was reading a novel: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante.
Craig Silverman
Buzzfeed’s media editor, and author of the ground-breaking Verification Handbook – For Disinformation and Media Manipulation, Craig Silverman shared his insights on disinformation when he appeared on an October 15 panel to discuss fake news around the U.S. election. His recommended reads were Subprime Attention Crisis: Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet by Tim Hwang, The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston, and Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare by Thomas Rid.
Brian Stelter
Appearing via Zoom on September 8, CNN’s Reliable Sources anchor said he’d be reading Bob Woodward’s new book, Rage, and No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer.
Joseph Stiglitz
The winner of 2001’s Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics appeared via Zoom on September 15 and recommended his most recent book, People Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent; and Paul Begala’s You’re Fired: The Perfect Guide to Beating Donald Trump.
Sebastian Strangio
Southeast’s Asia Editor at The Diplomat, Sebastian Strangio participated in a Zoom event on October 12 to discuss his book In the Dragon’s Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century. He recommended Fortunes of War: The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning.
James Tager
PEN America’s deputy director of free expression research and policy, James Tager, appeared on October 5 as part of a panel discussing Beijing’s influence on Hollywood. He recommended White Man’s Game by Stephanie Hanes; and Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny.
Mark Thompson
Mark Thompson, the former BBC Director-General and CEO of The New York Times Co., participated in a November 24 Zoom discussion about the troubles facing RTHK and other public service broadcasters around the world. He recommended Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick J. Deenen as well as the unabridged version of Tolstoy’s War and Peace produced by Naxos AudioBooks.
Ambassador Kurt Tong
Ambassador Kurt Tong, the former U.S. consul general in Hong Kong, appeared via Zoom on November 10 to discuss how President-elect Joe Biden will approach foreign policy in Asia. His recommendations were Great State: China and the World by Timothy Brook and The People, No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism by Thomas Frank.
Lingling Wei
Lingling Wei, Wall Street Journal reporter and author of Superpower Showdown: How the Battle Between Trump and Xi Threatens a New Cold War, admitted during an August 12 panel discussion that lockdown had introduced her to the children’s classic, The Lorax (Classic Seuss) by Dr Seuss. She was also reading Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang.
