Troublemaker tells the dramatic story of Harry Wu, China's best-known dissident in the West, who continues to risk his life to expose Beijing's human rights abuses--including its prison network, in which millions are enslaved. of photos. Harry Wu, China's most prominent dissident exile in the West, spent 19 years condemned as a counterrevolutionary in the laogai , his country's equivalent of the Soviet gulag system of forced labor camps. After escaping to California in 1985 he began a tireless campaign to publicize human rights abuses within the Chinese prison system, including the harvesting of organs from prisoners, and profiteering from forced labor supported by World Bank subsidies and U.S. importing of prison-made goods. Through Vecsey, a columnist for the New York Times , Wu recounts his incessant and intrepid troublemaking, including his clandestine trips back into China, on one of which he was caught, charged with spying, and deported after U.S. pressure for his release. Wu is a Chinese dissident who immigrated to the United States after enduring 19 years as a political prisoner (recounted in his Bitter Winds, LJ 6/1/92). He became well known for his efforts to criticize the Chinese "Laogai" (labor reform system) and to expose the abusive use of prisoner labor. In the summer of 1995, he was arrested at the Chinese border on his fourth secret trip to collect information on labor camps. Under international pressure, however, he was released and expelled from the country. Denounced in China as a "traitor" and "spy," he is hailed as a hero in the West and has received many human rights awards. This book meticulously unveils the dramatic story of his "crusade" against the Chinese government. It also contains a bitter and emotional account of the cruelty and unfairness of the Communist penal system, Wu's miserable years in numerous labor camps, and his unrequited teenage love. An interesting but disturbing book; recommended for public libraries. -? Mark Meng, St. John's Univ. Lib., Jamaica, N.Y. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Since he came to the U.S. in 1985, Wu has been a thorn in the side of the People's Republic of China--and the multinational corporations that earn lavish profits partnering with China's "economic reforms." Wu slips back from the U.S. into China (where he spent 19 years in labor camps) to record the facts about human rights and let the industrialized world know just how the Chinese produce their diesel engines, tools, boots, and artificial flowers. Wu has appeared on CBS-TV's Sixty Minutes and a BBC documentary and works with groups like Amnesty International to air the plight of China's dissidents and prisoners. Troublemaker , written with New York Times reporter-columnist George Vecsey, covers Wu's 1995 China trip (he snuck in the back door via Kazakhstan), which drew international attention when he was arrested at the border, held for 66 days, then tried and expelled quickly--at least in part to ensure that Hillary Clinton would attend the Beijing women's summit. Wu is clearly a propagandist, but he supplies information about China that American readers need to know. Mary Carroll To Westerners, Mr. Wu seems a brave crusader who has single-handedly put the laogai on the human rights agenda ... Still, questions should be raised about allowing American foreign policy to be held hostage ... by any crusader, however morally driven. -- The New York Times Book Review, Emily MacFarquhar tells the dramatic story of Harry Wu, China's best-known dissident in the West, who continues to risk his life to expose Beijing's human rights abuses--including its prison network, in which millions are enslaved. of photos. tells the dramatic story of Harry Wu, China's best-known dissident in the West, who continues to risk his life to expose Beijing's human rights abuses--including its prison network, in which millions are enslaved. of photos. Harry Wu was arrested in 1960 and was released from prison in 1979. Six years later, he accepted an offer to be a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley.