Many Bulls In My China Shop

Bulls in the China Shop is an engagingly anecdotal, lucidly written account of the tragicomic cultural and political misadventures that have plagues American commercial ventures over the past two decades in the People’s Republic of China. When diplomatic tensions between the two countries were eased in the 1970s, American businesses rushed to China, lured by the world’s largest national market. As they tried to introduce capitalism to China’s socialist society they soon discovered that the rules of business, as they understood them, did not apply. Chinese buyers placed huge orders for which they had no money to pay: Chinese marketing bore no relation to capitalist exigencies—playing cards were named “Maxipuke” (pu-ke: poker), designer men’s underwear, “Pansy”; million-dollar projects already underway were cancelled without warning. The Chinese, in turn, were astonished by the indiscretion of the Americans, who prized “directness” above all in negotiations and were at once brash and guileless in exposing weaknesses in their own bargaining positions. Like Mark Twain’s innocents, Americans were woefully ignorant of Chinese etiquette, and prone to embarrassing gaffes. And more: the Chinese found the American insistence on lengthy, detailed contracts fatuous, if not insulting. Bulls in the China Shop is a fascinating look at the uneasy commerce between American and China—between capitalism and socialism—and at the cultural, political, and historical significance of trade between the two nations.

“Bull In A China Shop,” is a true story about an Iowa farm boy growing up during the Depression and dreaming about going West to join the cattle business. With dedication and hard work, he was able to live the dream. He said no to his family business of farming and went after his dream, which many might say was at a high cost. He became a highly successful cattle buyer in Wyoming and Montana for 30 years. The story is told through his eyes based on his memoirs. Characters in the book embody what I call the greatest generation. Courageous, honest people who survived tough times by their faith, family, and hard work. They are the backbone of what made this country great. Their stories recall humor, friendship, and sadness. Many of them are gone, but by keeping their memories, and stories alive they will live on for future generations.

Whilst still this side of the pearly gates, the versatile APH finds plenty of subjects to satirize, criticize, lament and laugh over – be they such eternal preoccupations of gentlemen at cricket, smoking, privacy, speech day, or that most fearful duty of them all – being the father of the bride.

The creator of TomDispatch takes a scalpel to the American urge to dominate the globe.

Nicole Treadwell has a secret. If she reveals it, she will surely die. Of course, she knows it´s true because certain death is what he promised her after the "incident" in the deep woods years ago. Her fate ever in his hands, keeping the secret guts her on the inside as she struggles to make ends meet, serving as a law clerk to a dangerously ambitious judge in the Nation’s Capitol with secrets of her own. Nicole is tired--exhausted--toying with thoughts (she´s afraid to own) of letting life go. Her life is unraveling, her sound mind frayed. At the end of herself, she knows she can’t save herself, but who can? Worse, does she want to be saved? A swift reply to both questions comes in the way of a still, small voice at an unlikely time that ushers her onto a path few dare to tread or openly discuss. In contrast, Nicole´s former law school chumb and classmate, Timothy Grue, is a hotshot, private attorney who blazes notorious trails in and out of the courtroom. Both handsome and brash (owing to his kinship with privilege and social standing of a “fine” Philadelphia family), he seems to have the world on a string, every creature comfort easily within his reach, including an overabundance of company from the “fairer sex.” Despite his privilege and pedigree, Tim later learns that it came at a very high price. By a stroke of legal fortune (or misfortune), their paths collide professionally, as Tim is handpicked to represent an "A-List" Hollywood client in a lawsuit over which Nicole´s boss is the presiding judge. Not so secretly, the judge relishes the prospect of having her “fifteen seconds of fame” before the world press. Her staff knows that the attention from the paparazzi may prove to be her professional undoing--and theirs. Her job potentially on the line, Nicole contacts Tim Grue for a clandestine meeting of the minds, but will Tim take the bait and “sign on” to Nicole’s “harmless” solution? Their former friendship (on course to self-ignite or implode) sets in motion a chain of events that blast open the door to Nicole´s secret past and their bitter-sweet history; and where crises of identity, spirituality, and morality intersect, conflicting issues of race and class deepen already murky waters, as Nicole is black, and Timothy is white. Yet, as between the two, they want to know why race is still an issue at all? On the road from hell to higher ground, both learn that anything worth having is always tried by fires of a faith that asks, simply, what do you really believe? And more, can redemption ever come too late?