Breakneck reads as a warning. The book's title seems to refer to China's speedy growth. But it might also apply to the US; after all, it's what can happen when you slip.--Christopher Beam "Bloomberg"

Dan Wang is able to illuminate China like no one else, and his annual letters have long been mandatory reading in Silicon Valley. Breakneck expands this analysis and delivers a simultaneously riveting and revelatory account of one of the most important topics of our time.--Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe

A brilliant book about how China got ahead, how the United States stagnated, and the challenges that both will face in the future.--Odd Arne Westad, professor of history at Yale University and co-author of The Great Transformation: China's Road from Revolution to Reform

Simply one of the best China writers out there. . . an incredibly thoughtful, holistic and engaging work on one of the biggest stories of our time.--Tracy Alloway, co-host of Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast

Dan Wang comes bearing an uncomfortable truth that Americans need to hear: China builds, while America argues. And if we don't change that situation, and learn how to build things again, China is going to win the next century.--Noah Smith, writer at Noahpinion

Dan Wang is one of the deepest thinkers and most careful observers of the world that I know. His letters are extremely thought-provoking and worth the read.--Ben Thompson, founder of Stratechery

A must-read book on the intense competition between the United States and China for global leadership in the twenty-first century.--Julian Gewirtz, former White House Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs and author of Never Turn Back

The best recent book on China, on China and America, and arguably the best book of the year flat out. It is marvelously written and brilliantly understands the dilemmas of our modern world.--Tyler Cowen

An illuminating account of China's dizzying rise and its deepening pathologies.--Chris Miller, author of Chip War

China outpaces and outproduces the United States in a growing number of high-tech fields. With his trademark mix of personal observation and objective analysis, Dan Wang explains not only what is happening, but why. The result is a tour de force essential for policymakers, academics, investors and entrepreneurs.
--Rush Doshi, assistant professor of security studies at Georgetown University and C.V. Starr senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations

Dan Wang is an indispensable voice on China issues because he has the rarest combination of precious resources: deep knowledge and unflinching judgment. Half of his mind runs on philosophy; the other half runs on engineering. If Dan did not already exist, we would need to invent him for precisely this day and age.--Evan Osnos, author of Age of Ambition

A timely meditation on technology and governance--and a rollicking read, to boot.--Eva Dou, author of House of Huawei

[Wang] deftly mixes data-rich analysis with vivid personal anecdotes and punchy opinions. His book is both a fascinating exploration of China's strengths and weaknesses, as well as a searing critique of how a self-harming American leadership could lose the technological arms race to its rival.--John Thornhill "Financial Times"

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Pub date: 2025-08-26

Length: 288 pages