China's Crisis
Worth buying if: You study Tiananmen-era politics or Andrew J. Nathan’s scholarship on Chinese political reform.
Skip it if: You expect a recent history past 1990 or coverage of China’s 2000s economic rise.
Exact edition: Paperback · ISBN-13 9780231072854. The Amazon link uses this ISBN, so the product page should open to the edition shown here.
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Summary
In 242 pages, Nathan analyzes the 1989 Tiananmen aftermath, elite factionalism, and reform-versus-stability tensions shaping China’s political trajectory and policy choices in the early 1990s.
Why this book now
Revisit China’s Crisis to trace how the 1989 political rupture Nathan examines still informs contemporary debates about reform, legitimacy, and state control.
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Best for readers who...
Good fit if you want...
- You study Tiananmen-era politics or Andrew J. Nathan’s scholarship on Chinese political reform.
- You want a concise Columbia Univ Pr analysis of elite factionalism and policy dilemmas after 1989.
- You expect a recent history past 1990 or coverage of China’s 2000s economic rise.
- You want a sympathetic memoir or firsthand protest account rather than scholarly political analysis.
- You are specifically hunting for the newest framing rather than a backlist perspective.
Decided it fits?
Exact edition: Paperback · ISBN-13 9780231072854
Worth buying if: You study Tiananmen-era politics or Andrew J. Nathan’s scholarship on Chinese political reform.
Skip it if: You expect a recent history past 1990 or coverage of China’s 2000s economic rise.
Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.
Reader guide
Cues to help you decide faster.
Reading commitment
Light Short sit-downs
At 242 pages, this compact academic monograph is readable in several focused sessions or a weekend, with attention to political theory and historical context.
What stands out here
This Columbia University Press edition preserves Nathan’s contemporaneous 1990 assessment of Tiananmen’s political fallout and policy trade-offs in concise, evidence-driven prose.
Best way to approach it
Approach China’s Crisis as an analytic case study: take notes on Nathan’s key concepts—elite factions, reform vs. stability—and cross-reference with later sources for change over time.
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Paperback: ISBN-13 9780231072854
Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.