This 2018 book is a slipshod work. It has no footnotes or index. One can’t even check the veracity of his analysis. Save your money.
Written by a French economics correspondent at La Monde, it lacks a balanced scholarship.
Bougon comes to this book with an anti-Xi agenda.
Negative remarks by ” experts ” are highlighted. We have a quote by an ” expert ” David Shambaugh who in 2015 predicted the end of the Xi regime. (p 200).
We have a remark by seer ” look into Putin’s eye” Joe VP in 2013 after a 10- day trip to China that Xi has the look of a man who is unsure of himself. (p 20).
This book is not an excellent account of Xi’s life and career. Reviewers who said so must have a lower expectation.