Her book The People's Republic of Amnesia was named an Economist best book of the year, and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for political writing and the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. It was described as "stunning and important" by the Los Angeles Review of Books, and as "one of the best analyses of the impact of Tiananmen throughout China in the years since 1989" by the New York Times. She is currently the Howard V.Marsh Visiting Professor of Journalism at the University of Michigan.