Vaudine England’s latest book, Fortune’s Bazaar – The Making of Hong Kong, has been described as the best biography of this Asian port city, thanks to its emphasis on Hong Kong’s intensely varied human history.

Sparks is a vital account of how some of China's most important writers, filmmakers, and artists have overcome crackdowns and censorship to challenge the Chinese Communist Party on its most sacred ground - its monopoly on history. In traditional China, dynasties rewrote history to justify their rule by proving that their predecessors were unworthy of holding power. Marxism gave this a modern gloss, describing history as an unstoppable force heading toward Communism's triumph. The Chinese Communist Party builds on these ideas to whitewash its misdeeds and justify its rule.