Sparks

''An indelible feat of reporting and an urgent read ... It''s a privilege to read books like these'' Te-Ping Chen, author of Land of Big Numbers

''A powerful reminder of the ways in which China''s future depends on who controls the past'' Peter Hessler

A documentary filmmaker who spent years uncovering a Mao-era death camp; an independent journalist who gave voice to the millions who suffered through Covid; a magazine publisher who dodges the secret police: these are some of the people who make up Sparks: China''s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future, a vital account of how some of China''s most important writers, filmmakers, and artists have overcome crackdowns and censorship to challenge the Chinese Communist Party on its most sacred ground - its monopoly on history.

In traditional China, dynasties rewrote history to justify their rule by proving that their predecessors were unworthy of holding power. Marxism gave this a