Books, Arts & Manners: The Political Future for China

The Spirit of Chinese Politics, A Psychocultural Study of the Authority Crisis in Political Development By Lucian W. Pye M.I.T. Press, $2.95

The Chinese poet T’ao Ch’ien (365-427 A.D.) is quoted as saying that he liked reading but did not try very hard to understand what he read. Anyone who approaches Professor Pye’s book in this spirit will not get much from it. Extreme care and vigilance are required to sift out, from much jargon, the insights it contains, and to distinguish carefully between the impressionistic and unsupported (perhaps unsupportable) generalizations, the multiple inconsistencies, the farcical errors and the numerous careful and systematic analyses of facts. The book is highly selective as to the evidence it presents, no doubt a necessity in view of the breadth of its subject. By noting the trends and nature of its selectivity, the reader may judge for himself what motivates the author.

DR

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David Nelson Rowe

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The Spirit of Chinese Politics, A Psychocultural Study of the Authority Crisis in Political Development By Lucian W. Pye M.I.T. Press, $2.95

The Chinese poet T’ao Ch’ien (365-427 A.D.) is quoted as saying that he liked reading but did not try very hard to understand what he read. Anyone who approaches Professor Pye’s book in this spirit will not get much from it. Extreme care and vigilance are required to sift out, from much jargon, the insights it contains, and to distinguish carefully between the impressionistic and unsupported (perhaps unsupportable) generalizations, the multiple inconsistencies, the farcical errors and the numerous careful and systematic analyses of facts. The book is highly selective as to the evidence it presents, no doubt a necessity in view of the breadth of its subject. By noting the trends and nature of its selectivity, the reader may judge for himself what motivates the author.