Introduction
Chapter 1: Myth
Chapter 2: Victory
Chapter 3: Enemies
Chapter 4: Memory
Chapter 5: Victims
Chapter 6: Truth
Chapter 7: Lies
Chapter 8: Control
Chapter 9: Heroes
Chapter 10: Patriots
Conclusion: Power
Notes
Bibliography
Katie Stallard is Senior Editor, China and Global Affairs, at the
New Statesman magazine and a non-resident Global Fellow at the
Wilson Center in Washington, DC. She was previously based in Russia
and China as a foreign correspondent for Sky News, where she
reported extensively from across both countries, as well as North
Korea, South Korea, Myanmar, Japan, Georgia, and Ukraine, and
covered conflicts and natural disasters around the world.
She broadcast under sniper fire from ISIS-linked militants in the
Philippines, from Crimea as Russian forces annexed the peninsula,
and from the front lines of the subsequent war in eastern Ukraine.
As well as the New
Statesman and Sky News, her writing has been published in outlets
including Foreign Policy, The National Interest, The Diplomat, and
the East Asia Forum.
Dancing on Bones is a compelling testament to the power of history
and myth in global politics. Fast-paced and insightful, Stallard's
book skillfully unfolds the narratives that legitimize and drive
the leaders of China, Russia, and North Korea. A must-read for
anyone who wants to understand how America's competitors think.
*Peter Martin, author of China's Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf
Warrior Diplomacy*
When I first arrived in England some thirty years ago, I was
surprised to find that the history of the People's Republic of
China, as taught at Oxford, was quite different from what we were
taught at school. This book helped me to better understand why and
how authoritarian leaders want to control the history of their
nations. Interweaving interviews and personal stories of those
challenging the official narrative and fighting for the right to
preserve individual memory, this book delivers a powerful antidote
to the stereotypes and caricatures that so often dominate coverage
of these countries. Deeply reported and drawing on extensive
research, the result is a nuanced and compelling account that sheds
light on these consequential global powers.
*Lijia Zhang, author of Lotus and Socialism is Great!*
Through impeccable research and exhaustive reporting, Katie
Stallard details how three modern-day autocrats have co-opted and
corrupted-and often outright fabricated-history in their efforts to
stay in power and try to gain the upper geopolitical hand. To
understand how Putin, Xi, and Kim operate in the present, Stallard
expertly shows how they are weaponizing the past. Essential
reading.
*Anna Fifield, author of The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect
Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un and former Beijing bureau
chief for The Washington Post*
A beguiling and disturbing journey into how a new generation of
authoritarian leaders distort the past to dominate the present. A
powerful mix of reportage and analysis.
*Peter Pomerantsev, Senior Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute, Johns
Hopkins University*
An engaging account of how leaders in China, Russia and North Korea
and remolded, re-tooled and retrofitted postwar history to turn it
into an unforgiving bulwark of support for today's regimes. Its
value lies not just in illuminating how this happened, but why it
matters for the rest of the world, as the powerful and aggrieved
nationalism constructed on this new historical foundation spills
out into the rest of the world.
*Richard McGregor, author of The Party: The Secret World of China's
Communist Rulers*
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