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Peter Hessler discusses his new book, Oracle Bones: A Journey between China's Past and Present, which looks at the country through a kaleidoscopic lens of history, archeology, language, and contemporary culture.

Hessler has lived in China for the past nine years and is the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker. The title Oracle Bones refers to the earliest known writing in East Asia, inscriptions from the Shang dynasty more than 3000 years ago. As Hessler follows contemporary events, he returns again and again to these fragile first records of history in China, exploring the tension between a nation's troubled past and its determination to look to the future. His narrative follows individuals who make their way through a changing China. By following these stories, and interweaving them with portraits of archeology and history, Hessler gives the reader a new perspective on the dramatic transformation of today's China.