Li, Zhisui.Trans. Tai Hung-chao.The Private Life of Chairman Mao. Random House, 1995. Written by Mao's personal physician, this book describes the increasingly cloistered world of the Great Helmsman of China.
Salisbury, Harrison.The New Emperors. Little, Brown, 1992. A study of modern China, written by a prize-winning journalist.
Terrill, Ross.Mao: A Biography. Harper & Row, Reprint, Stanford University Press, 1980. 1999. Compelling account of the motivations and the events in the life of Mao.