A peasant society in many ways, China exhibits enormous regional variation and ethnic diversity. Against this societal background, the book would reach a new height of description and analysis if it made stronger connections between the dissident intellectuals’ struggles and their life histories (e.g., childhood, socialization, early influences from parents or fields of study, China’s colonial past, dogmatic political ideology, and so forth). Some biographic notes in this case would be very illuminating. It is also critical that the reader understand in depth the interrelationships between the dissidents and their fellow intellectuals working in a great variety of fields. Patriotism, nationalism, and political movements are often intertwined. Those who worked within the system were often viewed as dedicated to constructing their homeland. The author touched on this point in the chapter of Liu, who wrote on “critical loyalty.”

Finally, there is always an intellectual debate and a political argument over what roles intellectuals play in history and what parts dissident intellectuals play in development and democratization. Recently some counties in rural China have presented to the world a unique approach in how democratic elections are conducted at the village level and how civic governance is maintained and challenged at the grass-roots level. Thanks go to Mok for writing this interesting book.