Astral Codex Ten

America Against America

4 min read

America Against America

Article

America Against America is a recurring book in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 2 times across 2 issues between June 07, 2023 and January 18, 2024. The archive places it in contexts such as “The result: America Against America, a 200 page book on US culture and institutions”; “This is getting pretty far beyond anything in America Against America”; “Assistant Dictator Book Club: America Against America”. It most often appears alongside Wang Huning, 747, America.

Metadata

  • Category: Books
  • Mention count: 2
  • Issue count: 2
  • First seen: June 07, 2023
  • Last seen: January 18, 2024

Appears In

Source Context

Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.

Assistant Dictator Book Club: America Against America
June 07, 2023 · Original source
Enter Wang Huning, a young political scientist at Fudan University. He wanted to become an “America expert”. Toward that goal, he got a visiting scholar position in the most dynamic corner of the US - Iowa City, Iowa. His quest: to poke around Iowa until he figured out what the heck was going on with the United States, then report back. The result: America Against America, a 200 page book on US culture and institutions.
Inline links: America Against America
Another result: a career boost for Wang Huning. He got asked to head the Party’s “political research” office, then gradually rose higher and higher through the ranks. Today he’s considered the CCP’s chief intellectual, and has been called the second most powerful man in China (alternately “the most influential man in China”). He’s used his position to push China against American values and towards a sort of anti-Western cultural conservatism. Whatever he saw during those six months in Iowa must have scared him hard. I thought I would pick up America Against America to figure out what it was.
Inline links: the second most powerful man in China, the most influential man in China
This book is called America Against America. In the introduction, Wang explains that he means that the Chinese vision of America (a very powerful country of advanced technology, freedom, and democracy) is opposed to the real America (a place with just as many problems as anywhere else).
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January 18, 2024 · Original source
Assistant Dictator Book Club: America Against America - Chinese #2 Wang Huning spent six months in America as a budding academic and decided to devote the rest of his life to destroying it.
Inline links: Assistant Dictator Book Club: America Against America