The author of novels, histories, biographies and influential political essays, he approached them all with a droll British wit and a steadfast commitment to Western values.
Raised in a large chaotic family outside Boston, the journalist Janice Page recalls an eventful childhood and the love story that brought her to China and back again.
“American Canto,” published amid a scandal over the journalist’s alleged romantic entanglements with politicians she covered, offers many scenes but little sense.