Riding The Iron Rooster: By Train Through China
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: First Edition
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
Condition remarks: Usual aging. Pages clean and bright. Binding tight.
A landmark work of travel literature, Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China chronicles Paul Theroux's epic year-long journey across China by rail in the mid-1980s, a period of cautious opening after decades of isolation. With his signature blend of sharp wit, unflinching observation, and literary curiosity, Theroux presents an intimate and often irreverent portrait of a vast nation in transition — its landscapes, its people, and its contradictions. The narrative carries readers from the frozen steppes of Manchuria to the tropical south, through ancient cities and remote provinces rarely seen by Western eyes, capturing conversations with fellow passengers and local officials with equal candor. Theroux argues, implicitly and persistently, that the truest way to understand a country is to move through it slowly, at ground level, and his train journeys become a lens through which the complexities of Chinese society, history, and culture are vividly illuminated. Authoritative, funny, and at times provocative, this travelogue stands as one of the definitive accounts of China on the cusp of its modern transformation.
Author: Paul Theroux
Format: Hardback
Published: 1988, G. P. Putnam's Sons
Genre: Travel & exploration
Edition: First Edition
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
Condition remarks: Usual aging. Pages clean and bright. Binding tight.
A landmark work of travel literature, Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China chronicles Paul Theroux's epic year-long journey across China by rail in the mid-1980s, a period of cautious opening after decades of isolation. With his signature blend of sharp wit, unflinching observation, and literary curiosity, Theroux presents an intimate and often irreverent portrait of a vast nation in transition — its landscapes, its people, and its contradictions. The narrative carries readers from the frozen steppes of Manchuria to the tropical south, through ancient cities and remote provinces rarely seen by Western eyes, capturing conversations with fellow passengers and local officials with equal candor. Theroux argues, implicitly and persistently, that the truest way to understand a country is to move through it slowly, at ground level, and his train journeys become a lens through which the complexities of Chinese society, history, and culture are vividly illuminated. Authoritative, funny, and at times provocative, this travelogue stands as one of the definitive accounts of China on the cusp of its modern transformation.