Bryan Tilt: The Struggle for Sustainability in Rural China: Environmental Values and Civil Society. 2009 (Columbia University Press)

Scholarly.

Bruce J. Dickson: Wealth into Power: The Communist Party's Embrace of China's Private Sector. 2008 (Cambridge University Press)

A slap in the face for those who believe economic development will lead to democratization.

Mark Leonard: What Does China Think? 2008 (PublicAffairs)

Account of China's intellectual scene - from neo-coms to right-wing nationalists and liberal internationalists.

Michael Meyer: The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed. 2008 (Walker & Company)

Describes life in Beijing's old "hutongs" which are swept away by modern city development. A bit too romanticizing.

O'Brien, Kevin J. (Ed.): Popular Protest in China. 2008 (Harvard University Press)

Scholarly overview of different types of popular protest in China.

Simon Winchester: The Man Who Loved China.The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom. 2008 (Harper)

Biography of Joseph Needham, the man who wrote "Science and Civilization in China".

David M. Lampton: The Three Faces of Chinese Power: Might, Money, and Minds. 2008 (University of California Press)

Johns Hopkins Professor of China Studies investigates military, economic and political dimensions of China's development.

Richard D. Fisher: China's Military Modernization: Building for Regional and Global Reach. 2008 (Stanford Security Studies)

Serious analysis of China's military build-up by the Senior Fellow on Asian Military Affairs of the International Assessment and Strategy Center.

Susan Greenhalgh: Just One Child: Science and Policy in Deng's China. 2008 (University of California Press)

Ignoring the challenges of China's population growth Greenhalgh argues against the "one-child" policy.

Cheng Li (Ed.): China's Changing Political Landscape: Prospects for Democracy. 2008 (Brookings Institution Press)

Leading experts examine the prospects for democracy in China.