Friends and Enemies delivers a lucid and provocative history of one of the world's largest and most successful political organizations: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Grounding his account in the origins of the CCP, Brown charts its early struggles and the emergence of the leadership of Mao Zedong in the 1930s, before unravelling the role of the party during the Second World War, and tackling the successes and failures of the CCP in the post-war era.
Brown goes on to produce a forthright analysis of where the party stands in the twenty-first century, and assesses its three greatest challenges - energy, the environment and the economy - before culminating in a discussion of the potential for democratic reform, and the risks the CCP faces as it attempts to become a modern party in charge of a globally important economy.
Friends and Enemies is based on a combination of research and Brown's own experiences as a business person and diplomat in China, where he lived for seven years. It has also benefited from the input of analysts of the Party from the UK and USA, and from talks with Party officials at senior and working level in China.