On Reading Peter Hessler’s latest book, Country Driving

I first heard about Peter Hessler several years ago, when his first book River Town, the story of his experience living in a town along the Yangzi River, became widely known.  At that time I had little interest in reading the book, having already lived in China for several years and having just earned a PhD in Chinese history from Columbia.  At that point a book about a young American “discovering” China for the first time was not high on my list of China readings.  Been there, done that was the thought in my mind.  Perhaps others among us “China heads” felt the same way.

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An Interview with Peter Hessler

Peter Hessler is a best-selling author and journalist. He has published two books of non-fiction on China, _River Town_ and _Oracle Bones_. He has also written feature articles on China for _the New Yorker_, _National Geographic_ and other magazines. Last November I met Peter in Beijing while he was researching an article on my friend David Spindler and his Great Wall project. This article was published in the May 21 2007 issue of _the New Yorker_ magazine. After meeting Peter, I was inspired to read his book _River Town_, which recounts his experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer and English teacher in Fuling in 1996-7. I found the book to be an honest, perceptive, and insightful account of what it's like to live in China as a foreigner.
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