From the streets of Beijing to the girlie bars of Bangkok, my exploration of the erotic tension that links East and West blurred the line separating fantasy and reality.
Richard Bernstein is a writer based in New York. He is a former China correspondent for Time Magazine and bureau chief of the New York Times in Paris and Berlin. His new book is The East, the West, and Sex: A History of Erotic Encounters.
In an excerpt from his new book about the West’s erotic obsession with Asia, Richard Bernstein points to long-held sexual fantasies, and compares Bangkok websites with century-old paintings.
Was Obama’s election surprising? Not if you know your history. Simon Schama talks about his new book, The American Future, a look at the forces that make American politics “turn on a dime.”
Westerners wrongly assumed Chinese people were up in arms that Jackie Chan said they "need to be controlled." Richard Bernstein on why the "huge uproar" is a myth.
The buzziest book at the G-20 was the Chinese bestseller China Is Unhappy. Richard Bernstein on why the book—which chronicles China’s frustration with the West—is frightening the rest of the world.
Thomas Cahill’s moving new book about Death Row in Texas exposes the horror of executions—and the power of forgiveness.
With his suggestive humor and wit, popular writer Xu Lai represented a new challenge to the authorities in Beijing. Then two assailants knifed him in the abdomen after a reading in a bookstore.