Books: A Revolution in Many Voices: LEGACIES: A CHINESE MOSAIC

LEGACIES: A CHINESE MOSAIC by Bette Bao Lord; Knopf; 272 pages; $19.95

During the three years that China's door was opened widest to the world, American Ambassador Winston Lord and his wife turned their embassy residence into an exciting salon for Chinese intellectuals. To the delight of those artists and academics who were regulars, these gatherings offered American films, disco lessons and a rare place to talk freely to one another -- and to their effervescent hostess, Shanghai-born novelist Bette Bao Lord. Well before the advent of the democracy movement in Beijing, she began recording their uncensored life stories. Back in...