A riveting firsthand investigation of China's seismic progress its human costs and what it
means for America. For close to a decade technology analyst Dan Wang?"a gifted observer of
contemporary China" (Ross Douthat)?has been living through the country's astonishing messy
progress. China's towering bridges gleaming railways and sprawling factories have improved
economic outcomes in record time. But rapid change has also sent ripples of pain throughout the
society. This reality?political repression and astonishing growth?is not a paradox but rather
a feature of China's engineering mindset. In Breakneck Wang blends political economic and
philosophical analysis with reportage to reveal a provocative new framework for understanding
China?one that helps us see America more clearly too. While China is an engineering state
relentlessly pursuing megaprojects the United States has stalled. America has transformed into
a lawyerly society reflexively blocking everything good and bad. Blending razor-sharp
analysis with immersive storytelling Wang offers a gripping portrait of a nation in flux.
Breakneck traverses metropolises like Shanghai Chongqing and Shenzhen where the engineering
state has created not only dazzling infrastructure but also a sense of optimism. The book also
exposes the downsides of social engineering including the surveillance of ethnic minorities
political suppression and the traumas of the one-child policy and zero-Covid. In an era of
animosity and mistrust Wang unmasks the shocking similarities between the United States and
China. Breakneck reveals how each country points toward a better path for the other: Chinese
citizens would be better off if their government could learn to value individual liberties
while Americans would be better off if their government could learn to embrace engineering?and
to produce better outcomes for the many not just the few.
