Chinese activist Liu Xiaobo (1955-2017)--awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while serving an eleven-year prison sentence--helped shatter longstanding barriers to freedom of organization and expression in China. This biography, written by one of his closest friends, retraces Liu Xiaobo's inspiring life, from his childhood years through his imprisonment. He became terminally ill while incarcerated and died July 13, 2017.

Foreword-Jean-Philippe Béja
1 The Young Boy on the Black Soil
2 Beijing Stories
3 The Black Hand of Tiananmen
4 Start from Zero
5 One Man's War
6 Final Warning: Charter 08
7 Liu Xia
8 Nobel: A Crown of Thorns
Timeline
Notes
Bibliography
About the Author and the Translator

Yu Jie is an award-winning writer, one of China's most prominent essayists and critics, and a leading democracy activist and coauthor of Charter 08. His work has been banned in China since 2004, and he was arrested and tortured in 2010 for his close ties with Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo. Because of Yu's work on this biography, he was subjected to lengthy house arrest, as well as to kidnap and torture. A senior official in the Beijing security apparatus threatened Yu with a harsh prison sentence if he proceeded with his plans to publish. Yu had no choice but to leave China, bringing his wife and son with him to the United States in 2012.
HC Hsu is the author of Love Is Sweeter (2013) and Middle of the Night (2015). An award-winning essayist and short-story writer, his works have appeared in both English and Chinese. His translations of Hu Lancheng, Chu Tien-wen, Chen Kehua, Yuan Ch'iung-ch'iung, and others also have been widely published.