The Lie That Built Modern China - Frank Dikötter

I've spent a lot of time studying China — the culture, the power, the politics — and I thought I knew the story, but my guest today, historian Frank Dikötter, absolutely blew my mind, because the founding myth of the world's most powerful authoritarian state is built on a lie. Stick around, because this conversation is going to change the way you see China forever. 📚Books mentioned in the episode: Red Star Over China by Edgar Snow https://amzn.to/4raPPIy The China Mission by Daniel Kurtz-Phelan https://amzn.to/4u9GD9S Red Dawn Over China by Frank Dikötter https://amzn.to/4slHr9Y Frank Dikötter lives in Palo Alto, California, where he is the Milias Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also Chair Professor of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong. His books have changed the way historians view China, from the classic The Discourse of Race in Modern China to his award-winning People's Trilogy documenting the lives of ordinary people under Mao. Get his brilliant new book, which was a Barnes & Noble Reads Best Book of February 2026, Red Dawn Over China: How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity here: https://amzn.to/4slHr9Y Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio. Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: ⁠https://linktr.ee/anthonyscaramucci⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(266)

The Heartbreaking Atrocity of The Ukraine War (And Why You Should Care) - James Verini

After reading his book on the war in Ukraine, you will understand the significance of this conflict as you never have before. Putin thought he could topple Kyiv in days and convinced himself Ukraine w...

23 Jul 0s

The Truth About Guns In America They Don't Want You To Know! - Mike McIntire

Three-time Pulitzer winner Mike McIntire joins me to talk about his new book Ricochet (out today), and this one hit me hard. We've got more guns than people in this country, and I wanted to know how w...

21 Jul 0s

The Real Reason Politics & Society Is Broken (And Fixing It) - Susan MacKenty Brady & Stuart Kliman

We're all walking around convinced we're right and everyone else is the problem, and it's tearing apart our politics, our workplaces, our families. Stu Kliman and Susan McKenty Brady join me to break ...

16 Jul 31min

The Billionaire Class Has No Idea What's Coming - Daniel Silva

Daniel Silva is back for the 4th appearance on Open Book, with a new must-read book, Ransom, and once again, he's writing tomorrow's headlines before they even happen, from Russia's shadow war on Euro...

14 Jul 44min

Russia Expert: Putin Destroyed Democracy And Trump's Doing It Too - Jamison Firestone

Putin weaponized the justice system; he went after the media, the universities, and even pulled a comedy show off the air because it made fun of him. On this episode of Open Book, I sit down with Jami...

9 Jul 28min

He Invented Online Betting...Then Went To Prison For It - Jay Cohen

He built a betting exchange three decades ahead of its time, got prosecuted for it while John Roberts almost took his case, and served time for something states are now making legal one by one. This w...

7 Jul 26min

"They Should've Been Dead": How 3 Men Survived 28 Hours Surrounded by Sharks - Michael J. Tougias

They made a vow to survive together, no blame, no panic, just 28 hours of pure will against sharks, jellyfish, and the open ocean. My guest, Michael Tougias, lived inside this story for years to bring...

2 Jul 26min

Jun 2026 Q&A: Breaking From Trump, Reforming American Democracy & Book Recs

It's the June Q&A on Open Book, and you came at me with everything this month: aliens, whether there's a reckoning coming when Trump's term ends, and the honest reason it took me so long to break from...

30 Jun 26min