Overview

Illuminating. Shocking. Compelling.

Harvard Professor Ross Terrill, a friend of Rupert Murdoch, advised Richard Nixon and US Senators and was a prize-winning China expert, whom nobody knew was gay, and for over 40 years kept an intimate and sexually explicit diary. This is the first volume.

Ross Terrill traveled in high circles, friends with Rupert Murdock, prime ministers, US senators, and other politically powerful and well-connected men and women. He was a well-respected political scientist and historian. As a leading expert on China and the author of several award-winning books, he influenced how Americans came to see China and its importance. Henry Kissinger used Ross's Atlantic articles to brief President Richard Nixon for his historic visit to China in 1972. Ross testified numerous times before the United States Congress. He was a special commentator for CBS News, appeared multiple times on the Today Show, ABC's Nightline, and Firing Line, and was frequently a commentator—often from China—on NPR's All Things Considered. He was an eye-witness reporter during the harrowing days of the Tiananmen Square uprising.

But Ross had a secret. Nobody knew he was gay and sexually very active, a life he wrote about for over 40 years in a very intimate diary. Breaking the Rules is the first volume of Ross’s frank and raw diary. Sexually explicit, it reveals how this talented, influential man juggled his life between his high-powered career and his sexual exploits.

The diary may shock some; it certainly will fascinate and entice many others. It is a guilty pleasure that allows us to look through a keyhole to see the life of an extraordinary man. Ross Terrill flew high in the spotlight while exploring excesses and delights in the shadows. He lived life to its fullest. His diary is both an engaging read and an exceptional peek in LGBTQ history.