About Face: A History of America's Curious Relationship with China, from Nixon to Clintonby James H. MannReview by: Lucian W. PyeForeign Affairs, Vol. 78, No. 3 (May - Jun., 1999), p. 149Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20049334 .

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power base at all costs. Baram doubts

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Middle East Dilemma: The Politics and Economics of Arab Integration,

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Asia LUC?AN W. PYE

About Face: A History of Americas Curious

Relationship with China, from Nixon to Clinton, by james H. mann. New

York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999, 352 pp. $30.00.

In this outstanding study of U.S.-China

relations, James Mann of The Los Angeles Times skillfully combines archival research

and extensive interviews with both

high- and low-ranking American officials.

His conclusion: None of the U.S. admin

istrations had well-reasoned China

policies. Obsessed with secrecy, Nixon

and Kissinger were so awed by the historical

significance of their visits to Beijing that

they confused Mao's banalities for words

of great wisdom. George Bush foolishly sought to revive secret meetings in the

wake of the Tiananmen tragedy. Both

Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton had to make total about-faces from their

positions as candidates to their official

China policies. The very richness of

Mann's account underscores the gap between American intentions and

accomplishments?a gap that leaves the

impression that the Americans were

outwitted at nearly every turn, if only due to the lack of comparable details

about their Chinese counterparts. This

problem aside, Mann has set standards

that scholars of diplomatic history will find hard to match. His smooth and

quiedy witty prose style, combined with his

insights into the American personalities, makes his account one of lively politics, not

abstract strategic calculations.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS - May/June 1999 [149]

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