AI WEIWEI'S BLOG: Writings, Interviews, and Digital Rants, 2006-2009, by Ai Weiwei. Edited and translated by Lee Ambrozy. The MIT Press, 2011, 307 pp., $24.95 (paper)

The Chinese government hates the artist Ai Weiwei, and it's easy to see why. The artful criticism he posted on his blog from 2006 until the government shut it down in 2009 is, like his art, relentlessly honest. He pulled no punches, and he did so under a very real threat of imprisonment (as we recently saw) or worse; this makes the "bravery" of ranters in more open countries seem just a little less impressive.

That Ai continues his criticism even after the 81 days of his imprisonment, during which he was interrogated at least 50 times (or so it is reported: Ai is forbidden to talk about the conditions of his detention), is a further demonstration of his bravery and his commitment to truth. He is, in short, a hero.

When one considers that Ai's artistic antecedents are, on the one hand, Marcel Duchamp, and on the other, Andy Warhol this is a bit surprising. Though one may love Duchamp's and Warhol's work, and understand these artists' importance in the history of modern art, one is unlikely to turn to either for political agitation or political wisdom. Ai's blog — and, more obliquely, his work — is rich in both. Further, although he claims to be neither an intellectual nor a skilled writer, his blog testifies to the depth of his thought and learning, and also to his skill with words, skill that shines through in Lee Ambrozy's translation. There is a quotable line, an inspiration, a belly laugh — rueful, for the most part — on every page.