AIRED: March 21, 2011– 11 am PST
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TITLE: “Fortunate Sons: The 120 Chinese Boys who Came to America, Went to School, and Revolutionized an Ancient Empire”
SPECIAL GUEST: Matthew Miller is the co-author, with Liel Leibovitz, of two books, Lili Marlene: The Soldiers Song of World War II, and the recently published Fortunate Sons: The 120 Chinese Boys who Came to America, Went to School, and Revolutionized an Ancient Empire
Our guest, Matt Miller, joins Allen and Melody to explorer an entire cultural revolution that he, and co-author, Liel Leibovitz, have documented in their most recent book “Fortunate Sons”.
“Fortunate Sons” describes the true story of the 120 Chinese boys who studied in America in the 19th Century and returned home to become modern China’s founding fathers .
Miller and Leibovitz believe that readers can learn a lot from the lives of these men, as well as how China and America must approach each other not in suspicion and animosity but in the spirit of collaboration and mutual respect.
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The epic story of the American-educated boys who changed China forever.
At the twilight of the nineteenth century, China sent a detachment of boys to America in order to learn the ways of the West, modernize the antiquated empire, and defend it from foreigners invading its shores. After spending a decade in New England’s finest schools, the boys re-turned home, driven by a pioneering spirit of progress and reform. Their lives in America influenced not only their thinking but also their nation’s endeavor to become a contemporary world power, an endeavor that resonates powerfully today.
Drawing on diaries, letters, and other first-person accounts, Fortunate Sons tells a remarkable tale, weaving together the dramas of personal lives with the momentous thrust of a nation reborn. Shedding light on a crucial yet largely unknown period in China’s history, Fortunate Sons provides insight into the issues concerning that nation today, from its struggle toward economic supremacy to its fraught relationship with the United States.
