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Same Bed, Different Dreams: Managing U.S.-China Relations, 1989-2000. By David M. Lampton. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. 497p. $35.00.
David Bachman, University of Washington
David M. Lampion's book on the U.S.-China relationship is the best in a series of strong works on the topic in recent years. In contrast to James Mann's About Face (1999) and Patrick Tyler's A Great Wall (1999), books by scholarly journalists that cover the history of the relationship from the late 1960s to the late 1990s and that use declassified documents from the U.S. side extensively, Lampton concentrates solely on the former Bush and Clinton administrations. Moreover, he takes great advantage of his experience as president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations from 1988 to 1996 (he was professor of political science at Ohio State University before serving on the committee, and he is now a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies) to illustrate the ins and outs of U.S.-China relations. In contrast to Mann and Tyler, Lampton had great access to top Chinese leaders (and top U.S. officials as well) on a recurring basis, and the Chinese side is presented here with more insight than in any other source.
The book is part memoir, part history, part description, and part issue analysis of the dynamics of U.S.-China relations from early 1989 until the last days of the Clinton administration. Political scientists looking for great theoretical insights will be disappointed, but for those who want to understand the nature and evolution of U.S.-China ties, this is the...