US-China-Taiwan Relations Recommended Readings

I have been asking around for lists of a few books that other people interested in the field of US-China-Taiwan relations (or MeiZhongTai for all of you Chinese speakers) would recommend as the best books for the novice who wants to better understand the field.

The first reply came from The View from Taiwan, who offers his recommendations in the form of a blogpost entitled 'Ten Books on Taiwan'. In the comments section of his post, some of his readers offered their thoughts for additional books, so be sure to scroll all the way down.

Hopefully some others will soon offer their lists, but I'll go ahead and offer mine:

• Jasper Becker's Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine
  A look at the Great Leap Forward and the resulting famine, the greatest in history.


• Maurice Meisner's Mao's China and After
  While I felt it let Mao off too easily, for a history of twentieth century China in one book, there is no better text.


• Sterling Seagrave's The Soong Dynasty
  You cannot understand the history of the ROC or the Chinese Civil War unless you understand the lives of Charlie Soong and his influential children.


• David Shambaugh's Modernizing China's Military
  The best book in print on the subject of China's military modernization efforts.


• Richard Bush's At Cross Purposes: U.S.-Taiwan Relations Since 1942
  The history of US-Taiwan relations written by the former director of the American Institute Taiwan (America's de facto embassy in Taiwan).

Richard of Peking Duck offers his picks:

• Jasper Becker's The Chinese
  Richard's review of The Chinese can be found here.


• Joe Studwell's China Dream: The Quest for the Last Great Untapped Market on Earth


• Jung Chang's Wild Swans
  Richard wrote a great review of Wild Swans here. (Jung Chang is also the co-author of the much anticipated Mao: The Unknown Story, which Richard discusses here.)


• Simon Winchester's River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time


• Harrison Salisbury's The New Emperors: China in the Era of Mao and Deng

Dr. Robert Farley of Lawyers, Guns, and Money offers a few additions to the list:

• Yongnian Zheng's Discovering Chinese Nationalism in China


• Nancy Bernkopf Tucker's China Confidential


• Peter Hays Gries's China's New Nationalism


• David Lampton's The Making of of Chinese Foreign and Security Policy in the Era of Reform


• Alastair Johnston's Cultural Realism: Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy in Chinese History

Any other bloggers who wish to add a list to the collection can post them at their blog and e-mail a link or just e-mail me their lists at meizhongtai[at]gmail[dot]com.

Any readers who want to add to the list, feel free to do so in the comments section.

Updated to include a list from Peking Duck and another from Lawyers, Guns, and Money.