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Chinese Studies: Social Sciences

a curated reading list

The following book recommendations (3/4/2025) are from Ralph Huenemann '61, economist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria.
  1. Kevin Rudd, On Xi Jinping: How XI's Marxist Nationalism Is Shaping China and the World, Oxford University Press, 2024. [Click on title to access ebook]
  2. James Bradley, The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia, Back Bay Books, Little Brown and Company, 2015. [Get a copy through OhioLINK]
  3. Peter Schweizer, Red Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win, HarperCollins, 2022. [on order]
  4. Frank Gaffney, with Dede Laugesen, The Indictment: Prosecuting the Chinese Communist Party and Friends for Crimes Against America, China, and the World, War Room Books, Skyhorse Publishing, 2023. [on order]
  5. Ross Y. Koen, The China Lobby in American Politics, Harper & Row, 1974. [Look for a copy by call number E183.8.C5 K6 1974 in Main Library Stacks]
  6. John S. Service, The Amerasia Papers: Some Problems in the History of US-China Relations, UIC Center for Chinese Studies, 1971. [Request the library copy in Storage]
  7. Jim Sciutto, The Return of the Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War, Dutton, 2024. [Get a copy through OhioLINK]
  8. Yasheng Huang, The Rise and the Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline, Yale University Press, 2023. [on order]
  9. Bethany Allen, Beijing Rules: China's Quest for Global Influence, John Murray Press, 2023. [on order]
  10. Dmitri Alperovitch, with Garrett M. Graff, World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the 21st Century, Public Affairs, 2024. [Get a copy through OhioLINK]
  11. Matt Pottinger, The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan, Hoover Institution Press, 2024. [ebook on order]
  12. Chris Miller, Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology, Simon & Schuster, 2022. [Get a copy through OhioLINK]
  13. David E. Sanger, with Mary K. Brooks, New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West, Crown, 2024. [Get a copy through OhioLINK]
  14. Larry Diamond, James O. Ellis, Jr., and Orville Schell, Silicon Triangle: The United States, Taiwan, China, and Global Semiconductor Security, Hoover Institution Press, 2023. [ebook on order]
  15. John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, Simon and Schuster, 2020. [Get a copy through OhioLINK]
  16. Aaron L. Friedberg, Getting China Wrong, Polity Press, 2022. [Get a copy through OhioLINK]
  17. Hal Brands and Michael Beckley, Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, W.W. Norton & Co, 2022. [Get a copy through OhioLINK]
  18. Steven Roach, Accidental Conflict: America, China, and the Clash of False Narratives, Yale University Press, 2022. [Get a copy through OhioLINK]
  19. Elizabeth C. Economy, The World According to China, Polity Press, 2022. [Get a copy through OhioLINK]
  20. Susan L. Shirk, Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise, Oxford University Press, 2023.
  21. Anne F. Thurston, ed., Engaging China: Fifty Years of Sino-American Relations, Columbia University Press, 2021.
  22. Lulu Yilun Chen, Influence Empire: The Story of Tencent and China's Tech Ambition, Hodder and Stoughton, 2022. [Get a copy through OhioLINK]
  23. Ya-Wen Lei, The Gilded Cage: Technology, Development, and State Capitalism in China, Princeton University Press, 2023. [Get a copy through OhioLINK]
  24. Angela Huyue Zhang, High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy, Oxford University Press, 2024.