Red Széll

rather than oversimplification.

That's a new one on me.

I will look forward to reading that.

That sounds fascinating.

And actually, I've got one back at you where I would say the author fulfills exactly what you've just said.

It's a biography of Xi Jinping, the premier of China.

And it's by a veteran foreign correspondent called Michael Sheridan, who's got over two decades experience of reporting on Chinese affairs.

And you might think, well, you know, I know quite a lot about Xi Jinping, but this contextualises his rise to power.

And the book, by the way, sorry, is called The Red Emperor, Xi Jinping and His New China.

It points out that Xi Jinping's lifetime coincides with the emergence of China as a world superpower from being a bankrupt and very backward international pariah in the early 1950s.

And it charts how...

Xi Jinping, for all the fact that he is a determined and very loyal communist, also rose on the back of what Sheridan calls a red aristocracy, the sons and daughters of Chairman Mao's right-hand men.

Now, Xi's own father was one of Chairman Mao's top men.

leading right-hand men, who also, like so many of Mao's loyalists, fell foul of him and ended up being exiled, as did Xi himself when he was 13 years old.

And he paints a fascinating portrait of Mao.

what a teenage Xi Jinping was doing at the same time as another world leader

who we currently have on the other side of the Atlantic, was just hitting the New York party scene.

Here's a clip of Michael Sheridan talking about that very point.

And remember, you can find the whole episode by searching your favourite podcast provider for My Life in Books.

Absolutely.