Preface
Part I: In the Spirit of Geneva (London to Minsk)
1: Embarkation
2: Holding Out in the Legation Quarter
3: Paul Hogarth's Marxist Shudder
4: The Battle of British 'Friendship'
5: The Charms of Anti-Americanism
6: Barbara Castle's Bevanite Sigh
7: Chou En-lai's Winning Smile
Part II: One Good Elk and Dinner with the Politburo (Moscow)
8: Flowers for Edith Summerskill
9: Just Like Manchester a Hundred Years Ago
10: The Tragic Thoughts of Chairman Smith
11: Stanley Spencer's Pyjama Cord and the Socialist Tree
Part III: Anticipating China (Moscow to Ulan Bator)
12: Ghosts over Siberia (Casson and Pulleyblank)
13: A Blue Jacket for Abraham Lincoln (Paul Hogarth)
14: How China Came to Cookham (Stanley Spencer)
15: Brown Phoenix Over Mongolia (Cedric Dover)
Part IV: Listening to the Oriole (China)
16: Clement Attlee's Break
17: Popeyed Among the Tibetans: the Undiplomatic Rapture of the
Cultural Delegation
18: Cadillacs, Coal Mines and Co-ops: the Second Labour Delegation
Grapples with the Facts
19: 'Nuts About Pavlov?' Resuming the Scientific Dialogue
Part V: The Artist's Reckoning (China)
20: Revolution in the Art Schools and Museums
21: Paul Hogarth's Sky Full of Diamonds
22: Stanley Spencer's Takeaway
Afterword: The Vision Fades
Patrick Wright is a writer and broadcaster with an interest in the
cultural dimensions of modern life. He is the author of a number of
highly acclaimed best-selling history books, including The Village
that Died for England, Tank (described by Simon Schama as 'a tour
de force'), and Iron Curtain, which John le Carre described as 'a
work of wit, style and waggish erudition.'
He has written for many magazines and newspapers, including the
London Review of Books, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the
Independent, and the Observer, and has made numerous documentaries
on cultural themes for both BBC Radio 3 and 4. His television work
includes The River, a four-part BBC2 series on the Thames.
He is also a Professor at the Institute for Cultural Analysis at
Nottingham Trent University, and a fellow of the London Consortium.
`A brilliant feat of research . . . The result is a tour de force,
erudite, funny, endlessly revealing...
'
John Keay, TLS
`In his astonishing last half-dozen books, he has established
himself not only as the champion ironist and caustic critis of that
weird historical compount, 'Englishness', but als a social
historian of an inimitable kind.'
Fred Inglis, The Independent
`Acerbic and fair-minded. . . social comedy with a rueful edge
'
Richard B. Woodward, Wall Street Journal
`An exuberantly rich chronicle teeming with personalities, stories,
encounters and ideas, filled with the strangeness and wonder of
colliding worlds'
David Hayes, Books of the Year, Australian Policy Online
`Wright unfolds a rich, sometimes comic tale of how sympathizers
and skeptics alike were tested by Communism in action as well as by
Chinese brandy. [He] shows us where they flinched, diverted their
eyes, or struggled to understand China's new nationalism and
experiment in socialism. Highly recommended.'
Library Journal
`A fascinating recreation of a moment in British political and
cultural history.'
Isabel Hilton, History Today
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