In China's Shadow: The Crisis of American Entrepreneurship
By Reed Hundt, Yale University Press, October 16 2006, 208 pages

Critics say this book should be read from Silicon Valley to Washington to Wall Street. Hundt explores the business, technological and political links that tie China and the US, including some very interesting historical background on China's early economic transactions with the West. Today, the US is all too aware of how big China's impact on America has become as the world's most populous country grows in economic and global status. In China's Shadow explores the impact on US citizens and their businesses, asking how they should respond to the global competition. American entrepreneurship is brought into question, strongly challenged by China's fierce spirit, and so too are their living standards, business practices and government regulations. Hundt urges US citizens to adapt to these new challenges, to innovate and to take risks, creating a reinvigorated society. The book is insightful, packed full of relevant data, original in its focus and well-argued. Hundt brings his background in the information industries consultancy field and as FCC Chairman during the Clinton-Gore Administration to life, through personal anecdotes and in-depth analysis.

China Shifts Gears: Automakers, Oil, Pollution, and Development
By Kelly Sims Gallagher, The MIT Press, 5 May 2006, 216 pages

China's pollution problem is in crisis; it has a fast-developing automotive industry (production rose from 42,000 cars per year in 1990 to 2.3 million in 2004) and it may soon overtake the US to become the world's largest consumer of resources. China Shifts Gears looks at the public policies addressing these issues and continues the debate surrounding the role foreign direct investment could have in improving China's transfer of clean technology, particularly in the auto sector. Gallagher looks at the positive outcomes that could become a reality if the government leads the way in building domestic technological capacity with pushing foreign automakers to transfer more energy-efficient technologies to China - urban air pollution could be minimised, noxious gases would be lower and the auto sector could still continue to boom. Gallagher researches three Chinese-US joint ventures to illustrate her arguments; Beijing Jeep, Shanghai GM, and Chang'An Ford, and she also includes interviews with government officials and industry experts.