Richard McGregor: The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers. 2010 (Harper)

Eye-opening account of how China is run by the Communist Party from Financial Times reporter McGregor.

Victor C. Shih: Factions and Finance in China: Elite Conflict and Inflation. 2009 (Cambridge University Press)

Account of elite politics in China. Vivid details of personal differences among top leaders.

James Kynge: China Shakes the World: A Titan's Rise and Troubled Future - and the Challenge for America. 2006 (Houghton Mifflin)

Former bureau chief of the Financial Times in Beijing explains why China is re-defining the world order.

Maurice Meisner: Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic. 3rd Ed. 1999 (Free Press)

Piercing insights! Just brilliant.

Maurice Meisner: Mao Zedong: A Political and Intellectual Portrait. 2007 (Polity)

One of the best biographies of Mao Zedong - balanced and scholarly.

William H. Overholt: Asia, America, and the Transformation of Geopolitics. 2007 (Cambridge University Press)

Director of RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy argues that US geo-politics should not be guided by democracy promotion.

Jung Chang: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. 2003 (Touchstone)

Susan L. Shirk: China: Fragile Superpower: How China's Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise. 2007 (Oxford University Press)

Excellent analysis of China's internal fault lines.

Andrew J. Nathan / Bruce Gilley: China's New Rulers: The Secret Files. 2nd Rev. Ed. 2003 (New York Review Books)

Kenneth Lieberthal: Governing China: From Revolution Through Reform. 2nd Ed. 2003 (W. W. Norton)

Scholarly.