Ross Terrill: Madam Mao. (Rev. Ed.) 2000 (Stanford University Press)

Impressive biography. Back-stabbing in power circles during later Mao era.

Roderick MacFarquhar (Ed.): The Politics of China: The Eras of Mao and Deng. 1997 (Cambridge Univ. Press)

Scholarly.

David L. Shambaugh: Power Shift: China and Asia's New Dynamics. 2006 (Cambridge Univ. Press)

Analyzes the changing political balance in Asia.

David L. Shambaugh: Deng Xiaoping: Portrait of a Chinese Statesman. 1995 (Oxford University Press)

Andrew Scobell: China and Strategic Culture. 2004 (University Press of the Pacific)

Bates Gill: Rising Star: China's New Security Diplomacy. 2007 (Brookings Institution Press)

Indispensible for anyone interested in China's diplomatic strategy.

Nien Cheng: Life and Death in Shanghai. 1988 (Penguin)

Personal account of suffering under Cultural Revolution

Chang Jung / Jon Halliday: Mao - The Unknown Story. 2005 (Knopf)

Jonathan D. Spence: The Search for Modern China. (2nd Ed.) 2001 (W. W. Norton)

One volume history - from 16th-century to 1989.

Barry Naughton: The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth. 2007 (The MIT Press)

A leading specialist analyzes the Chinese economy. Enzyclopedic text book.