Fortunate Sons

The 120 Chinese Boys Who Came to America, Went to School, and Revolutionized an Ancient Civilization

By: Liel Leibovitz

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Paperback | 1 June 2012 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
338 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
2.08 x 1.38 x 0.18

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In 1872, the Chinese Education Mission sent 120 boys - most no older than 12 or 13 - away from their homes in Canton China to the United States. Here, they were sent to private schools, housed by prominent families, and told that they would learn all that the West had to offer. They met some of the brightest American luminaries of the time, from Ulysses S. Grant to Mark Twain. And in 1881, they were just as abruptly brought back and sent to prison as spies. Fortunate Sons tells these boys' remarkable stories - their homesickness, their ambition, and the revolutionizing changes that they ultimately made to China upon their return. Liel Leibovitz and Matthew Miller draw on the unusual wealth of primary resources in order to let readers listen to the students' own voices. These first-hand accounts lend Fortunate Sons its most remarkable feature: that its layered account of the relations between China and America at a pivotal moment in the last empire can build on vivid individual portraits of these men caught between two cultures.

Industry Reviews

"A useful reminder of how long exchanges between our two countries have been under way, and of the risks and rewards that these connections have brought to both sides." -- Deborah Fallows - New York Times
"Highly readable." -- William Wong - San Francisco Chronicle
"A fascinating and well-told history." -- Peter Hessler, author of Country Driving
"Thoroughly enjoyable...an outstanding tale of cross-cultural fertilization." -- Booklist

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