When President Richard Nixon held his meetings with Chairman Mao in Beijing in February 1972, at his side was a young U.S. diplomat serving as his principal interpreter: Chas W. Freeman, Jr. Interesting Times: China, America, and the Shifting Balance of Prestige presents Ambassador Freeman's most brilliant (and often bitingly witty) on developments in China and the U.S.-Chinese relationship, 1969–2012. Subjects include issues like Taiwan, other strategic issues, and differences over human rights, economic, and trade policies that confronted the world's two most powerful countries throughout those years.