Taiwan's recent moves to democratize its political system have undermined the "one China" policy and demanded the redefinition of relations between Taiwan and China. Across the Taiwan Strait provides a new and timely look at the pivotal role of democracy in the fifty-year-old conflict. Drawn from the proceedings of a conference organized by the Claremont Institute, the work discusses the varying perceptions of democracy in China and Taiwan and the different democracy movements developing on either side of the Taiwan Strait. It highlights the importance of Taiwan in establishing an Asian experience of democracy, the role of the United States in mediating this discussion of democracy, and the need to ensure that democratic development enhances, rather than destabilizes, the cross-strait relationship.

This is a sweeping novel of the lives of twelve people thrown together by chance in the exotic territory of British-ruled Hong Kong and of their fateful reunion during the Chinese takeover decades later. In the years between the time of their separation and the moment of their reunion, some cross paths, some achieve international recognition, some become notorious, and others seem to fall off the face of the Earth. Their passions and careers mandated that they live in ways many would regard as a dream-and others, a nightmare. When they finally reunite, some will discover that it is not only the Cold War that is a part of the dustbin of history.

BRUCE HERSCHENSOHN has numerous key contacts at the Nixon Presidential Library and the Reagan Presidential Library and will work to schedule book signings in October or November at these locations which will get a good deal of local coverage.