Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader
Facebook Twitter Pinterest <Embed>
  • List Price: $27.00
  • Save: $9.00 (33%)
FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books.
Only 19 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Age of Ambition: Chasing ... has been added to your Cart
Want it Tuesday, Aug. 16? Order within and choose this date at checkout.
Ship to:
Select a shipping address:
To see addresses, please
or
Please enter a valid US zip code.
or
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.
Used: Good | Details
Sold by TxtBham
Fulfilled by Amazon
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: Book is in good condition. May contain highlighting/underlining. Supplemental materials may not be valid. Ships fast from Amazon!

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and .

If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you increase your sales. We invite you to learn more about Fulfillment by Amazon .

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See all 4 images

Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China Hardcover – May 13, 2014

by
Evan Osnos (Author)
› Visit Amazon's Evan Osnos Page
Find all the books, read about the author, and more.
See search results for this author
Are you an author? Learn about Author Central
Evan Osnos (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 262 customer reviews
See all 10 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Price
New from Used from
Kindle
"Please retry"
$9.89
— —
Hardcover
"Please retry"
$18.00
$6.99 $0.20
Paperback
"Please retry"
$11.23
$3.97 $2.53
Audible, Unabridged
"Please retry"
$0.00
Free with your Audible trial
MP3 CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
"Please retry"
$14.99
$5.62 $12.10
Wiley Summer Savings Event.
Wiley Summer Savings Event.
Save up to 40% during Wiley's Summer Savings Event. Learn more.
$18.00 FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books. Only 19 left in stock (more on the way). Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
click to open popover

Frequently Bought Together

  • Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
  • +
  • Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower
Total price: $39.75
Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Back
  1. Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower
    Henry M. Paulson
    4.2 out of 5 stars 91
    Hardcover
    $21.75 Prime
  2. On China
    Henry Kissinger
    4.5 out of 5 stars 272
    Hardcover
    $24.00 Prime
  3. The Party: The Secret World of China&#8217;s Communist Rulers
    Richard McGregor
    4.4 out of 5 stars 103
    Paperback
    $12.37 Prime
  4. No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes
    Anand Gopal
    4.8 out of 5 stars 120
    Hardcover
    $17.83 Prime
  5. China in Ten Words
    Yu Hua
    4.6 out of 5 stars 86
    Paperback
    $10.09 Prime
  6. Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China
    Peter Hessler
    4.4 out of 5 stars 162
    Paperback
    $10.87 Prime
Next
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE
The latest book club pick from Oprah
"The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead is a magnificent novel chronicling a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. See more

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; F First Edition edition (May 13, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0374280746
  • ISBN-13: 978-0374280741
  • Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.4 x 9.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (262 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA rare balance
By Oracle of Adelphi on May 18, 2014
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
China books seem especially tricky to write, because the writer has to please two very different types of American reader: the one who has a great deal of experience with China, and the one who does not. The first reader cringes if he has to read yet another description of how Shenzhen used to be a fishing village; but the second reader can't really understand Shenzhen unless you explain this fact. (As a strange hybrid of these two readers -- I lived in China but have no deep expertise in its history -- I often experience the worst of both worlds.)

This book strikes a rare balance. It's a very absorbing read, and its multiple story-lines are impressively woven together, without any of the stitches showing. The people Osnos writes about run the gamut from a public figure like Lin Yifu (the World Bank economist who defected to mainland China from Taiwan in 1979) to an obscure figure like Michael Zhang, a young energetic optimist whom Osnos first meets at a Crazy English conference and then follows for a few years. (Zhang turns into one of the most interesting characters in the book.)

Osnos tells all these individual stories against the backdrop of most of the major events in China of the last five years: the violence in Xinjiang, the Liu Xiaobo fiasco, the "Jasmine" events of 2011, Ai Weiwei's ordeal, the flight of Chen Guangcheng, the Bo Xilai scandal, the bullet train crash, and so on. You learn a great deal about all these events, but the book is anchored in its very humane profiles of individual Chinese who are trying to make their lives better.
4 Comments 162 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
4.0 out of 5 starsa book for Americans
By TracyF on May 28, 2014
Format: Hardcover
I am a Chinese in the USA. An American friend recommended this Age of Ambition to me, saying it's amazing. But I found myself almost gave up when I read the first chapter on the Taiwan defector Lin Zhengyi. This is a story you can find on wikipedia, and lots of Chinese are very familiar with Lin Zhengyi too. I guess Americans will find it interesting, never mind. I decided to read on since I liked the writing style. The people and their stories in this book are nothing new to me. Even Ai Weiwei's part, I would just go to watch the movie Never Say Sorry again. The more I read, the more I think something is missing. Seems Mr. Even Osnos is keen on predicting the future of China. But the characters in his book are not representing the whole picture. I am not saying Hu Shuli, Lin Zhengyi or Han Han are passé, just the grass-root young strivers in the book are not those who are more likely to take over the throne. China is a elite society, even if you don't like the children of the officials, of the rich business men's, the truth is they are educated(some overseas) and have resources. They are more likely to govern the country in the future. I don't know why there is no voice from this group. If you are talking about ambitions, without input from that group, the picture of new China the author draws is just not completed. But again, for those who don't live in China, or never experience the culture, it's a good read.
12 Comments 210 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsA great look at sociological shifts in modern China
By W. Sherer on May 14, 2014
Format: Hardcover
If you've been following Osnos's New Yorker pieces, you know he has a gift for finding seemingly eccentric anecdotes and using them to explain a larger point. In this new book, he takes that a step further and illustrates the overwhelming social change that has taken place in China over the past fifty years through the experiences of individuals that have lived through it. It's a wonderfully readable blend of idiosyncratic stories and insightful analysis that brings any reader, whether new to the topic or an experienced China watcher, a greater understanding of this emerging force in world events.
1 Comment 60 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsI knew that it would be one of the best books about the NOWADAY China
By Jie Zou on November 21, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
Huge congrats to Evan Osnos! Age of Ambition won this year's National Book Awards!

I have been a loyal reader of Evan's articles in New Yorker and his blog. When I learned he planned to bundle these articles and some blogs together as a non-fiction book, I knew that it would be one of the best books about the NOWADAY China.

However, I want to start with shortcomings of this book. I am not so satisfied with the treatment of Justin Lin (the defector from Army of Taiwan, the powerful economist and professor in Beijing Univ., the former chief economist of World Bank). I would try not to spoil too much. Evan used him to set the fundamental tone of the whole book, which is "Ambition", as the title suggested. Why did Justin Lin, a political star in Taiwan Army, risk his life to swim over the sea to come to Mainland China? Evan hinted that it was because of Ambition. Sure, ambition is important for Justin Lin. But I think Evan missed another very important factor - the social responsibility of a traditional Chinese intellectual (a 'Shi4' in Chinese). This becomes obvious in Lin's letter to his cousin in Japan. Evan actually cited many sentences from that letter in the book. But I don't know why Evan did not cite the most important paragraph, in which Justin Lin described how excited he was when he visited Dujiang Great Dam. Dujiang Great Dam was built two thousands years ago and still serves the millions of people in the basin. The chief engineer Li Bin and his son were still remembered and admired today. In the letter, Justin continued to say (forgive my awkward translation): "standing by the river, listening to the roaring waves, I cannot help thinking that if I couldn't devote myself into building happy lives for our future generations, I will regret when I am old.Read more ›
Comment 43 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA great read

Recommend: Nice storyline to gain insight on where China has come from to get where they are today. Read more

Published 1 month ago by D. Bouwkamp
5.0 out of 5 starsAn amazing book worth reading

This is the best book I have ever read. I am a Chinese student studying in the States. Many terms and topics discussed in the book didn't sound unfamiliar to me, but I didn't get a... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsValue good. Book arrived in described condition

Value good. Book arrived in described condition.

Published 2 months ago by yeiko jeanne nowaki
4.0 out of 5 starsIt is a dry subject written in an interesting way

I recommend this book to people who want to know a bit more about China in a very personal way. The story flows although it is a little difficult to keep track of all the Chinese... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

very informative and written in a way that was interesting using specific people to tell about a complex situation.

Published 2 months ago by susanne
5.0 out of 5 starsSince I have lived in Beijing, I think that ...

Since I have lived in Beijing, I think that Evan Osnos has really captured the spirit of place. One can say that he filled the shoes of Peter Hessler but different.

Published 2 months ago by Ben Hohne
2.0 out of 5 starsI have read a lot of China books, and ...

I have read a lot of China books, and this one is extremely superficial. If you have read a newspaper in the last five years, you will not find this insightful.

Published 3 months ago by Jerry
3.0 out of 5 starsAmbition equals corruption in China

The Book was somewhat interesting but not especially well written. What was interesting is how much corruption now exists in China particularly with the government

Published 3 months ago by Margery Andrews
4.0 out of 5 starsPieces of Real China

Well written by a man who truly took the time and effort to dig into China and find answer and stories. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Anna E
4.0 out of 5 starsDoes a rising tide lift all boats (or will it swamp them)?

New Yorker writer Evan Osnos makes sense out of modern China. Based on his reporting, the Chinese people are trying to make sense of it all as well. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Charles Bookman

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway
This item: Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
Set up a giveaway

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.