In 1972 Nixon amazed the world by going to China. The first trip ever by a US President was an immense gamble but a brilliant stroke of policy. It marked the end of deep freeze in Sino-American relations and changed the international balance of power for ever. This turning point in history was enacted by extraordinary players: Nixon himself, red-baiter, shrewd statesman and disgraced politician; Mao, frail, erratic, ruthless; the twin Machiavellis Kissinger and Chou En-lai; brittle, unhappy Pat Nixon; and Mao's wife Jiang Qing, the small-time Shanghai actress become scourge of Chinese civilization.