The best books on the Chinese Communist Party

British Hong Kong had a good story in the run-up to 1997. Its people worked hard and had an indomitable spirit. China had its own story about Hong Kong: after reunification, the city would prosper as never before due to China's wise and pragmatic "one country, two systems" policy. Hong Kong people and the world bought those stories.

But now it is clear that the British version of the Hong Kong story no longer holds while Hong Kong people are not so sure about themselves and their future seems less bright. The city and its people are stuck--they have no compelling narrative that joins the past and the future. This book is based on our thoughts of what a new Hong Kong story might be: a story about "us" and "you", the people who care about Hong Kong, not an impersonal "he/she/it" story--a story, moreover, to be worked out between Hong Kong and mainland China and no one else.

British Hong Kong had a good story in the run-up to 1997. Its people worked hard and had an indomitable spirit. China had its own story about Hong Kong: after reunification, the city would prosper as never before due to China's wise and pragmatic "one country, two systems" policy. Hong Kong people and the world bought those stories.

But now it is clear that the British version of the Hong Kong story no longer holds while Hong Kong people are not so sure about themselves and their future seems less bright. The city and its people are stuck--they have no compelling narrative that joins the past and the future. This book is based on our thoughts of what a new Hong Kong story might be: a story about "us" and "you", the people who care about Hong Kong, not an impersonal "he/she/it" story--a story, moreover, to be worked out between Hong Kong and mainland China and no one else.

British Hong Kong had a good story in the run-up to 1997. Its people worked hard and had an indomitable spirit. China had its own story about Hong Kong: after reunification, the city would prosper as never before due to China's wise and pragmatic "one country, two systems" policy. Hong Kong people and the world bought those stories.

But now it is clear that the British version of the Hong Kong story no longer holds while Hong Kong people are not so sure about themselves and their future seems less bright. The city and its people are stuck--they have no compelling narrative that joins the past and the future. This book is based on our thoughts of what a new Hong Kong story might be: a story about "us" and "you", the people who care about Hong Kong, not an impersonal "he/she/it" story--a story, moreover, to be worked out between Hong Kong and mainland China and no one else.

In 1893 women had the vote in only one nation, New Zealand. By the 1960s women had the vote in almost all countries and it was an indication of backwardness in the ones where they didn’t. In this book I trace the history of this revolution in world politics in relation to woman, not just in continents where the story is well known but in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In every place there were radical pioneers whose stories are told here, often for the first time in the West.

This is the inside account of the U.S.-China economic struggle starting in the 1990s.  I wrote it with my Wall Street Journal colleague, Lingling Wei, who was the best-sourced American reporter in China until she was expelled in 2020 along with other American journalists. Our book features deep reporting in Beijing as well as Washington D.C., which distinguishes it from many works by U.S. journalists who rely too much on American sources. We focus on the trade war fought by President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.  Expect lots of scoops and details not available anywhere else.     

British Hong Kong had a good story in the run-up to 1997. Its people worked hard and had an indomitable spirit. China had its own story about Hong Kong: after reunification, the city would prosper as never before due to China's wise and pragmatic "one country, two systems" policy. Hong Kong people and the world bought those stories.

But now it is clear that the British version of the Hong Kong story no longer holds while Hong Kong people are not so sure about themselves and their future seems less bright. The city and its people are stuck--they have no compelling narrative that joins the past and the future. This book is based on our thoughts of what a new Hong Kong story might be: a story about "us" and "you", the people who care about Hong Kong, not an impersonal "he/she/it" story--a story, moreover, to be worked out between Hong Kong and mainland China and no one else.

The sinking of the Titanic in the North Atlantic in April 1912 sent shockwaves around the world. The liner was on its maiden voyage and was the most luxurious ship afloat. Above all, it was considered to be “virtually unsinkable.” But a fatal collision with an iceberg sent the ship to the bottom of the sea, killing more than 1,500 passengers and crew. My book on the tragedy is part of the bestselling Eyewitness series and is written for children, although adults will enjoy it too!

British Hong Kong had a good story in the run-up to 1997. Its people worked hard and had an indomitable spirit. China had its own story about Hong Kong: after reunification, the city would prosper as never before due to China's wise and pragmatic "one country, two systems" policy. Hong Kong people and the world bought those stories.

But now it is clear that the British version of the Hong Kong story no longer holds while Hong Kong people are not so sure about themselves and their future seems less bright. The city and its people are stuck--they have no compelling narrative that joins the past and the future. This book is based on our thoughts of what a new Hong Kong story might be: a story about "us" and "you", the people who care about Hong Kong, not an impersonal "he/she/it" story--a story, moreover, to be worked out between Hong Kong and mainland China and no one else.

China is poised to become the world’s largest economy in the next decade. But its great struggle to modernise has been one of tragedy, conflict, and challenge. From the first attempts to introduce Western ideas into the country two centuries ago, China’s long march to global primacy has been above all an epic fight to renew an ancient country and culture.

Sinologist Kerry Brown traces this quest for renewal through the major moments of China’s modern history. Taking the reader on a journey that includes war, revolution, famine, and finally regeneration, he describes concisely and authoritatively where China has come from, and where it is heading as it achieves great power status. This is a story that is no longer just about China, but concerns the rest of the world.

What was the Cold War that shook world politics for the second half of the twentieth century? Standard narratives focus on Soviet-American rivalry as if the superpowers were the exclusive driving forces of the international system. I offer a different account, restoring agency to regional powers in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe and thereby revealing how regional and national developments shaped the course of the global Cold War.

Despite their elevated position in 1945, the United States, Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom quickly realized that their political, economic, and military power had surprisingly tight limits given the challenges of decolonization, Asian-African internationalism, pan-Arabism, pan-Islamism, Arab–Israeli antagonism, and European economic developments. As a series of Cold Wars ebbed and flowed, the three world regions underwent structural changes that weakened or even severed their links to the global ideological clash, leaving the superpower Cold War as the only major conflict that remained by the 1980s.