The China Reader: The Reform Era
Few editors are better equipped to gather key documents and reportage on the past 25 years of Chinese history than Schell, dean of graduate studies in journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, and Shambaugh, former editor ofThe China Quarterlyand political science and international affairs professor at George Washington University. After a brief introduction, they open with politicswithinthe Communist Party andoutsideit, capturing the voices of party leaders and reformers, as well as commentary from China scholars. An education, media, and culture section includes both internal and external analysis of how those key societal institutions are changing; sections on the economy, society, and security and foreign relations offer the same mix of positive and negative assessments of China's recent history from both within and outside China's borders. Casting a net wide enough to include both the World Bank and the Dalai Lama and issues as diverse as rural poverty and "The Battle for Cyberspace," the editors have produced a valuable library resource.Mary Carroll