Longlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award
An August 2025 Next Big Idea Club Must-Read Book
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…