  thumb|200px|jan myrdal, 2007 jan myrdal (born 19 july 1927 in bromma, stockholm) is a swedish author, leftist-political writer and columnist. he is an honorary doctor of literature at upsala college in new jersey, us, and a phd at nankai university in tianjin in china. he has lived at various times in the united states, afghanistan, iran and india. he is the son of the social democrats and nobel laureates alva myrdal and gunnar myrdal; he broke completely with both at an early age for personal reasons while keeping them in esteem for their public achievements. he was married to gun kessle, a photographer, graphic artist and writer, until her death in 2007. she illustrated many of his works. in 1982 myrdal went back to the chinese village he reported on in 1962 and recorded his observations in return to a chinese village (1984), in which he expressed his disappointment at the changes that had occurred, and his continued support of mao's programs, including the cultural revolution. ==written production== myrdal is a prolific writer, both of books and newspaper columns; he was first employed as a journalist at a local newspaper, after having dropped out of gymnasium to concentrate on his writing. he got his breakthrough in 1963 with the book report from a chinese village, an anthropologic study of a chinese village in mao's china. subsequently he has written many similar "reports" and travel notes from asian countries, including india, afghanistan and the then-soviet central asian republics, in collaboration with his life partner, gun kessle. his 1968 book confessions of a disloyal european was chosen by the new york times as one of that year's 'ten books of particular significance and excellence'.  myrdal's best-known works include his many autobiographical books, i novels, mainly about his childhood and his complex, conflicted relationship with his parents, alva myrdal and gunnar myrdal. the first of these books caused scandal when they were first published in sweden, due to the bad light they cast on alva and gunnar, who were among the most esteemed public intellectuals and politicians of their time. myrdal is an eclectic author, who has developed a wide range of special interests in topics deemed obscure by many, and who seeks to place art, literature and popular culture in an ever-political context of historical and social forces. he has written books on such diverse subjects as meccano, wartime propaganda posters and french 18th-century caricature art; he even edited a wine column for the tenants association for a short while. the line dividing art, literature and politics 
1927_births Living_people Sommar_hosts Swedish_communists Swedish_writers Writers_from_Stockholm Writers_from_Uppland