Books About 20 of the World’s Great Cities
And more reads on fiction and foreign policy.
In 2016, we asked luminaries to recommend their favorite books about cities worldwide; they picked everything from an absurdist Chinese novel about a plot to buy former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin’s embalmed corpse to a deeply human short story collection set amid the Siege of Sarajevo.
In 2016, we asked luminaries to recommend their favorite books about cities worldwide; they picked everything from an absurdist Chinese novel about a plot to buy former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin’s embalmed corpse to a deeply human short story collection set amid the Siege of Sarajevo.
As many of us dig into fiction this holiday season, we thought it was time to revisit that list for inspiration, along with more of our thoughtful, and often surprising, reads on the intersections between foreign policy and fiction, whether in the form of sci-fi, crime novels, or theater. —Chloe Hadavas
Foreign Policy illustration
Around the World in 40 Books
We asked distinguished writers and thinkers to pick their favorite books about 20 of the world’s great cities.
A woman looks at a futuristic rendition of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong displayed at the Convention and Exhibition center in Hong Kong on Nov. 21, 2005.TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images
How China Became a Sci-Fi Powerhouse
Would-be superstar authors once toiled in obscurity. Online publishing changed all that, Emily Feng writes.
Foreign Policy illustration/Das Erste photo
Germany’s Love Affair With Crime Fiction
The genre is a potent mirror for a country still coming to terms with itself, Thomas Kniesche writes.
People visit the Bund along the Huangpu River in Shanghai on Aug. 29, 2020.Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Seeking Truth From Fiction
The provocative short stories in Land of Big Numbers offer a window into ordinary life in China with rich material from a reporter’s notebook, Alexa Olesen writes.
Foreign Policy illustration
The Tragedy of Stopping Climate Change
The race is on to tell—or sell—the right story about global warming, Jessi Jezewska Stevens writes.
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The Masterminds
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