Publishers Weekly
03/29/2021
Washington Post columnist Rogin debuts with a deeply reported look at U.S.-China relations during the Trump presidency. Contending that the administration’s instinct to confront China over trade and national security matters was the right one, Rogin details how internal divisions between trade policy adviser Peter Navarro, treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, chief of staff John Kelly, and others led to a disjointed, chaotic approach. Rogin also highlights the contrast between Trump’s public hostility toward China and his determined efforts to befriend Chinese leader Xi Jinping, revealing that the two stayed in regular contact, both directly and through intermediaries, even as they traded barbs in the press. Disbelieving that Chinese officials would handle the Covid-19 pandemic with “so much secrecy and misinformation,” White House officials initially resisted deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger’s January call for banning travel from China. Trump eventually enacted the ban over the objections of Mnuchin and chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and during the ensuing months his administration took a harder line against China on a range of issues. Packing the account with insider details, Rogin makes a persuasive case that confronting China’s rise is essential to world affairs. Readers will appreciate this in-depth look behind the headlines. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
The ultimate insider’s account of the making and mismaking of China policy by the Trump administration—a chilling twin portrait of the relentless advance of Xi Jinping and the venomous backbiting among Donald Trump and his advisers, who tried unsuccessfully to combat it. There are scoops on nearly every page. Read it and weep: Chaos Under Heaven reveals how China rose and America flubbed its response.” — DAVID IGNATIUS, Washington Post columnist
“In Chaos Under Heaven, Josh Rogin tells a deeply reported, briskly written, and compelling story of how President Trump and his team struggled to deal with the significant economic and national security threats posed to the US by the Chinese government. This book is a must-read for anyone looking for insight into why this new cold war matters to every American.” — JAKE TAPPER, CNN anchor
“Chaos Under Heaven is required reading for anyone who wants to know what happened between America and China during Trump’s tumultuous four years in the White House. Josh Rogin’s account is rich in detail and full of insight into the events and people that drove the United States as it began to change many of its longstanding policies in dealing with Beijing.” — JAMES MANN, New York Times best-selling author of The China Fantasy and Rise of the Vulcans
“Josh Rogin is an outstanding journalist who breaks news all the time. And there’s certainly lots of news in his extraordinary book. He takes us behind the scenes to get a real appreciation of this critically important relationship. Chaos Under Heaven is well written and incisive—and once you start reading, you won’t want to put it down.” — WOLF BLITZER, CNN Anchor
“Josh Rogin’s superbly researched 'Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the Twenty-First Century' is the first book-length dive into that newborn competition [between the U.S. and China] . . . In what could be the plot of a thriller, Mr. Rogin traces Washington’s efforts to engage the CCP threat . . . Mr. Rogin’s research on the murky origins of the ‘Wuhan virus’ is darkly fascinating.” — Wall Street Journal
"Chaos Under Heaven moves quickly, is well-written and draws the reader in." — The Guardian
"Outstanding . . . That Mr. Rogin manages to capture the complexity and multi-faceted nature of the China challenge is a testament to his writing and reporting. This is a must-read book . . . Chaos Under Heaven is the best single volume on the totality of China’s reach and influence, and our muddled policy over the last four years." — Diplomatic Courier
"Packing the account with insider details, Rogin makes a persuasive case that confronting China’s rise is essential to world affairs. Readers will appreciate this in-depth look behind the headlines." — Publishers Weekly
"An exhaustive study." — Kirkus Reviews
Wall Street Journal
Josh Rogin’s superbly researched 'Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the Twenty-First Century' is the first book-length dive into that newborn competition [between the U.S. and China] . . . In what could be the plot of a thriller, Mr. Rogin traces Washington’s efforts to engage the CCP threat . . . Mr. Rogin’s research on the murky origins of the ‘Wuhan virus’ is darkly fascinating.”
WOLF BLITZER
Josh Rogin is an outstanding journalist who breaks news all the time. And there’s certainly lots of news in his extraordinary book. He takes us behind the scenes to get a real appreciation of this critically important relationship. Chaos Under Heaven is well written and incisive—and once you start reading, you won’t want to put it down.”
The Guardian
"Chaos Under Heaven moves quickly, is well-written and draws the reader in."
JAMES MANN
Chaos Under Heaven is required reading for anyone who wants to know what happened between America and China during Trump’s tumultuous four years in the White House. Josh Rogin’s account is rich in detail and full of insight into the events and people that drove the United States as it began to change many of its longstanding policies in dealing with Beijing.”
JAKE TAPPER
In Chaos Under Heaven, Josh Rogin tells a deeply reported, briskly written, and compelling story of how President Trump and his team struggled to deal with the significant economic and national security threats posed to the US by the Chinese government. This book is a must-read for anyone looking for insight into why this new cold war matters to every American.”
Diplomatic Courier
"Outstanding . . . That Mr. Rogin manages to capture the complexity and multi-faceted nature of the China challenge is a testament to his writing and reporting. This is a must-read book . . . Chaos Under Heaven is the best single volume on the totality of China’s reach and influence, and our muddled policy over the last four years."
DAVID IGNATIUS
The ultimate insider’s account of the making and mismaking of China policy by the Trump administration—a chilling twin portrait of the relentless advance of Xi Jinping and the venomous backbiting among Donald Trump and his advisers, who tried unsuccessfully to combat it. There are scoops on nearly every page. Read it and weep: Chaos Under Heaven reveals how China rose and America flubbed its response.”
Wall Street Journal
Josh Rogin’s superbly researched 'Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the Twenty-First Century' is the first book-length dive into that newborn competition [between the U.S. and China] . . . In what could be the plot of a thriller, Mr. Rogin traces Washington’s efforts to engage the CCP threat . . . Mr. Rogin’s research on the murky origins of the ‘Wuhan virus’ is darkly fascinating.”
Kirkus Reviews
2021-03-08
Breaking down the messy nature of Donald Trump’s hard-line China policy and how China took advantage of the relationship.
The last four years of the American government’s stance regarding China was largely guided by the realization that the prior 40-year experiment of engagement and accommodation was not working. China simply did not want political liberalization, and growing evidence revealed that the Chinese Communist Party was infiltrating many facets of American society, from universities to Silicon Valley to Wall Street. As Washington Postforeign policy columnist Rogin shows in meticulous, depressing detail, even though candidate Trump’s aggressive approach effectively called out the authoritarian regime, the administration’s “dysfunction and the president’s behavior” led to erratic results. From the beginning, Trump loyalists like Jared Kushner—guided by Steve Mnuchin and other “pro-business players”—and Steve Bannon fashioned themselves as China experts. Regarding Bannon, the author writes, “it takes real nerve to lead a populist, anti-China movement when you started as a Goldman Sachs executive—and when you have already made your money in China before turning against the system that made that possible. After he left Goldman, Bannon worked for…a Hong Kong startup…[that] used cheap labor in China to mine virtual goods inside computer games to sell for real-world money.” On the other hand, Matthew Pottinger, National Security Council senior director for Asia, managed to craft an intelligible policy and was one of the few who stuck it out for all four years of Trump’s presidency. Rogin delineates how, by 2018, hawks like Mike Pompeo and Mike Pence overruled the pro-business faction, leading to the implementation of tariffs and an all-out trade war. The spread of Covid-19, which Trump repeatedly dubbed the “China virus,” as well as the violent suppression in Hong Kong ensured that U.S.–China relations reached a low point by the 2020 election. It doesn’t make for heartening reading, but Rogin covers it comprehensively.
An exhaustive study that leaves open the question of whether the Biden administration can maintain a steadier hand.
