India’s former foreign secretary (FS) Vijay Gokhale, who is acknowledged as an astute China expert, retired in January 2020 and has been a diligent chronicler of his considerable diplomatic experience after laying down office. The quality and quantum of his output over the last 18 months is indeed commendable and one can only conjecture that the esteemed former FS may not have gotten much sleep post retirement! Gokhale’s first book Tiananmen Square: The Making of a Protest was published earlier this year and the second has followed a few months later. Both books had set themselves a specific focus and...