China Book Club: 'River Town' by Peter Hessler

This is a generational China book, and one of the definitive texts about the experience of being a foreigner in China. In the 1990s, Princeton graduate Peter Hessler spent two years teaching English in the remote, landlocked Sichuan Province while representing the Peace Corps.

The depth and quality of the writing, the historical insights and its value as a time capsule are evidence of why he was subsequently made China correspondent for The New Yorker.