New Book to Debut on Write On Four Corners in 2012

Calendar of Events for
Bullet Trains to Yaks:
Glimpses into Art, Culture, and Politics in China and Tibet
by Stan Biderman and Kathryn Minette



Thursday, July 21, 7:30 pm

TALK, SLIDE SHOW, BOOKSIGNING
TATTERED COVER, LoDo Store
1628 16th Street at Wynkoop St, Morey Mercantile Bldng.
Denver CO 80202
Store Contact: 303-436-1070
Contact: 303-322-1965 ext: 2736 charles.stillwagon@tatteredcover.com

More events to come...

















www. ironypress.com

Most travelers to China visit the eastern cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Wonderful destinations in themselves, they give a limited perspective on the country, as a traveler from China would get if they visited New York, Washington, and Miami, and thought they had seen America.

Husband and wife team, Stan Biderman (author), and Kathryn Minette (photographer), criss-crossed the country initially seeking artifacts and cultural mementos--visiting the Silk Road, Gobi Desert, and ancient market outposts of Dunhuang, Turpan, and Kashgar--what they experienced was marching troops in the western city of Urumqi, where only a few months before their visit 197 people were killed in clashes between the majority Han and the Uighur people of the Xinjiang Province. Then they traveled to Tibet to see the beauty of the Tibetan people striding with prayer wheels under the threatening watch of the Chinese army patrolling with machine guns. Their trip became so much more than they expected.

Stan and Kathryn also went to observe what the media is portraying as the next nation to test the U.S. as a superpower. Having visited Tiananmen Square, seen the Shanghai skyscrapers, and breathed acrid air throughout the country, they saw a rapidly growing land on the rise and flush with money, much of it derived from manufacturing goods much cheaper than western nations are able to produce them. What they did not see was innovation, and observed that in a country with no free speech there was no true innovation. They concluded that, like the Soviet Union before, China’s restrictions on its citizens was a metaphor for the ultimate restriction of the success of the country.
China will rise but its ceiling is limited, and as we have seen in the Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya nations which oppress their citizens, these countries ultimately pay a deadly price.
A slide show of Minette's photos will be presented at their book discussions and signings.

Nonfiction—Travel/Art/Politics/Culture (Travelogue and Photos)
Irony Press, Santa Fe, NM, Distributor: Atlas Distributing
Pub. Date: May 2011, ISBN: 978-0-9832636-0-9, List price: $24.95
Pages: 176, 32-page full-color photo insert, 70 b&w photos

For review copies, event or interview requests, and print, radio, and television media requests, contact:
Mary Neighbour, 505-474-6309, mneighbour@blessingway.com, www.blessingway.com or call Stan Biderman at (505) 983-7663.

Books will be overnighted upon request.

Connie Gotsch www.conniegotsch.com Host Write On Four Corners KSJE FM, Farmington NM www.ksje.com Author two award winning youth novels ‘Belle’s Star,’ and ‘Belle’s trial,’ based on the life of a real dog and written from her point of view. Available from Artemesia Press at http://www.apbooks.net and amazon.com, and Anazon,com Belle’s Star was a New Mexico BookAward in 2009 and 2010; First Place for Juvenile Fiction New Mezxico Press Women and National Federation of Press Women Communication Contests 2010’ Silver Mom’s Choice Award 2010.
Belle’s Trial’ won First Place for Juvenile Fiction in the 2011 New Mexico Press Press Women’s Commuication Contest, and a Silver Mom’s Choice Award for 2011. The book received an Eric Hoffer Award nomination for 2011.