By all counts a massive work, on the persons who ran and are running the Chinese state. The author seems to have personally met and discussed with most of them, and is thus able to get under the surface of their public postures and trace the evolution of their thought and reactions to events like the Tianmen imbroglio. Of course it is a bit dated (published in 2011), but it does have some personal details of the current leaders' family background and relationship with major events like Mao's Cultural Revolution and Deng's economic reforms. It is difficult to understand how so many of the Chinese leaders and citizens continue to live with so much faith in Mao's legacy, in spite of having suffered so much under his dispensation. This book may help a little in coming to terms with such enigmas. Despite being such a huge volume, it is relatively painless to read through it due to its mercifully short chapters that present a great amount of specific information about personages and regions in a pithy manner. It may be a matter of interest that India does not figure (even in the Index), which may actually be a good thing for Indians. ( )