The Barefoot Lawyer by Chen Guangcheng

The Barefoot Lawyer by Chen Guangcheng

It was like a scene out of a thriller: one night in April 2012, China's most famous political activist--a blind, self-taught lawyer--climbed over the wall of his heavily guarded home and escaped. For days, his whereabouts remained unknown; after he turned up at the American embassy in Beijing, a furious round of high-level negotiations finally led to his release and a new life in the United States.

Chen Guangcheng is a unique figure on the world stage, but his story is even more remarkable than we knew. The son of a poor farmer in rural China, blinded by illness when he was an infant, Chen was fortunate to survive a difficult childhood. But despite his disability, he was determined to educate himself and fight for the rights of his country's poor, especially a legion of women who had endured forced sterilizations under the hated one child policy. Repeatedly harassed, beaten, and imprisoned by Chinese authorities, Chen was ultimately placed under house arrest. After a year of fruitless protest and increasing danger, he evaded his captors and fled to freedom.

Both a riveting memoir and a revealing portrait of modern China, this passionate book tells the story of a man who has never accepted limits and always believed in the power of the human spirit to overcome any obstacle.

Guangcheng, Chen: - Chen Guangcheng, known to many as the barefoot lawyer, was born in the village of Dongshigu in 1971. Blind since infancy, illiterate until his late teens, he nonetheless taught himself law and became a fiery advocate for tens of thousands of Chinese who had no voice. His escape from inhuman house arrest in China made international headlines, as did his flight to the American embassy in Beijing. In 2012 he became a student at New York University Law School; since 2013 he has been a senior research fellow at Catholic University, the Witherspoon Institute, and the Lantos Foundation. He now lives with his wife and two children in the Washington, D.C. area.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780805098051
ISBN 10	0805098054
Title	The Barefoot Lawyer
Author	Chen Guangcheng
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Henry Holt And Co.
Year published	2015-03-10
Number of pages	352
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.