Jonathan Chatwin

A History Today Book of the Year 2024 On a freezing January afternoon in 1992, Deng Xiaoping, China’s former paramount leader and now a revered elder statesman, set off on a month-long trip around China’s south in defence of the reforms he had set in motion to open up China’s economy and transform the country into the political and economic...

A History Today Book of the Year 2024 On a freezing January afternoon in 1992, Deng Xiaoping, China’s former paramount leader and now a revered elder statesman, set off on a month-long trip around China’s south in defence of the reforms he had set in motion to open up China’s economy and transform the country into the political and economic...

Through the centre of China's historic capital, Long Peace Street cuts a long, arrow-straight line. It divides the Forbidden City, home to generations of Chinese emperors, from Tiananmen Square, the vast granite square constructed to glorify a New China under Communist rule. To walk the street is to travel through the story of China's recent past, wandering among its physical...

By the time of his death in 1989 at the age of 48, Bruce Chatwin had become one of the most celebrated writers of the twentieth century. Though his career spanned merely twelve years, his impact and influence were profoundly felt; Chatwin's first book, In Patagonia, redefined travel writing, whilst his later work, The Songlines, became one of the literary...