Books by Odd Arne Westad

China has had close political and cultural relations with Korea for centuries and the history of that relationship can shed light on China’s approach to international relations more broadly—including in its imperial past. Yale historian Odd Arne Westad recommends the best books on China, Korea and the relationship between them.

Mary Elise Sarotte, holder of the Kravis Chair in Historical Studies at Johns Hopkins, discusses five books on the end of the Cold War and East Germany’s attempts to grapple with its new future post-reunification

American military and economic superiority cannot explain why the Cold War came to an end in the late 1980s and early 1990s. According to the historian Archie Brown, you need to accept the primacy of politics and human agency both in the USSR and the West. He chooses five books to understand the Cold War and offers some broader reflections on the qualities of good political leadership—then and now.

From an issue of a literary magazine that brings together contemporary writing from across mainland China to books focusing on different periods of its 20th-century history, it’s been another good year for books about China available to English readers. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a professor at UC Irvine and specialist in modern Chinese history, talks us through some of his favorite books about China published in 2024.