"1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows can be seen as another act of defiance. . . . The book [is Ai Weiwei's] effort to reclaim his country's and his family's dramatic past."--The Wall Street Journal Magazine

"Illuminating . . .a document of conviction and activism . . . a clear-eyed account of two artists working against convention, buffeted by the whims of absurdist politics."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Poignant . . . An illuminating through-line emerges in the many parallels Ai traces between his life and his father's. . . . Ai does not allow his own scraps to remain buried. To unearth them is an act of unburdening, an open letter to progeny, a suturing of past and present. It is the refusal to be a pawn--and the most potent assertion of a self."--The New York Times Book Review

"Absorbing . . . Ai Weiwei's steadfast devotion to free expression and resistance to the Chinese Communist Party's unrelenting pressures make this book glow as if irradiated with righteousness." --Orville Schell, The New York Review of Books

"This memoir is a remarkable book--and an important one. . . . 1000 Years is a breathtaking self-examination of a brave artist."--Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Ai Weiwei is one of the world's greatest living artists. He is a master of multiple media. His work is always thought-provoking, unpredictable, and immensely personal."--Elton John, author of Me

"With uncommon humanity, humbling scholarship, and poignant intimacy, Ai Weiwei recounts a life of courage, argument, defeat, and triumph. His is one of the great voices of our time."--Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity and Far and Away: How Travel Can Change the World

"Like the author's brilliant installations and films, the book is an impassioned testament to the enduring powers of art--to challenge the state and the status quo, to affirm essential and inconvenient truths, and to assert the indispensable agency of imagination and will in the face of political repression."--Michiko Kakutani, author of Ex Libris: 100+ Books to Read and Reread

"This is the rarest sort of memoir, rising above the arc of history to grasp at the limits of the soul."--Edward Snowden, author of Permanent Record

"Ai Weiwei's intimate, unflinching memoir is an instant classic in the literature of China's rise, a protest against the destruction of memory, and a glorious testament to the power of free expression."--Evan Osnos, author of Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China

"One thousand years of joys and sorrows are here concentrated into a mere one hundred. They are years that teem with life of a startling variety. The presentation is artful and the translation exquisite."--Perry Link, author of An Anatomy of Chinese: Rhythm, Metaphor, Politics

"Revelatory and moving."--Booklist (starred review)

"Engrossing . . . Highly recommended."--Library Journal (starred review)

"Fluid, heartfelt."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)