Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Shortlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award An August 2025 Next Big Idea Club Must-Read Book A riveting firsthand investigation of China’s seismic progress its human costs and what it means for America. For close to a decade technology analyst Dan Wang—“a gifted observer of contemporary China” (Ross Douthat)—has been living through the country’s astonishing messy progress. China’s towering bridges gleaming railways and sprawling factories have improved economic outcomes in record time. But rapid change has also sent ripples of pain throughout the society. This reality—political repression and astonishing growth —is not a paradox but rather a feature of China’s engineering mindset. In Breakneck Wang blends political economic and philosophical analysis with reportage to reveal a provocative new framework