The Tiananmen Papers really shouldn't have been as controversial as they were--they back up what we already knew, as far as that could be done without access to Chinese archives. How the leaders interact in the descriptions is also consistent with past studies (including very respected ones), as is the process of policymaking in Beijing.

The main value of the book is to get a "feel" for how political decisions are made in China. It's silly to "blast" the book as unreliable, since that's impossible to confirm in any case. The entire study of Soviet and now Chinese politics is based on educated guesses and observation. I didn't get the impression that the authors insist it be accepted as the final word on the subject.

OK I'll start with a disclaimer: you should not bring this book with you on your next vacation in China because this contains highly sensitive, confidential, and provocative contents. Books like these are what the Chinese government labels as materials that "threaten national security." The Tienanmen Paper is a collection of documents depicting the inner-workings and Chinese top leaders' decision on pulling in PLA (People's Liberation Army) into Beijing on June 3, 1989. These documents, which were secretively smuggled out of China, give a clear perspective on the events that lead to the massacre shortly after midnight on June 4, 1989.

While the book does not add on to what we already know about the Tienanmen massacre, it does give us a feel for how decision-making works at the very lop leadership. It clearly indicates that the turmoil split the top leadership into opposing fractions. The documents confirm the fact that dismissal of Party Secretary Zhao Ziyang, who was pro-reform in the Communist Party, was not a coincidence. He was removed from office upon his firm refusal to declare martial law and send in troops to drive students out of Tienanmen.

The leaders already had an idea of how to suppress any democratic sit-ins and riots as soon as students walked out from the classrooms and made their ways into Tienanmen square. A general who wanted to remain anonymous from a memoir commented, "Army is the Army. Power is what is most important to the rulers of this country. They don't care what foreigners think. They don't care what the students want. The demonstrators are threatening their power. That is what they are thinking about. So the students will die." Decisions had long been made. They just had to get rid of any opposing efforts and those who opposed. Outsiders (foreigners and Chinese who live in remote parts of the country) often think what they could not see and could not hear wasn't there. And Tienanmen Paper has filled this gap. Every gesture, voice, meeting, decision made by the leaders is laid bare.

We saw gunfire, screaming, and fighting. We saw students falling, laying in blood. We saw tear gas and rubber bullets. We saw trucks and tankers sitting bumper to bumper. We saw the officers in cars racing up and down the line supervising the caravan. We saw common people demanding the soldiers turn around and leave the city. We saw other people shaking their fists and denouncing the soldiers. We saw buses and vehicles burning at intersections, windows of apartment buildings flickering. But one thing we miss: the troops called into Beijing by Yang Sheungkun, or the 38th company of the PLA, has no clue of the democratic movement started by students. The troops were brought in from some remote province of the country and they knew they had to listen to the order from above. As one bystander recalled, "The soldiers made no eye contact with the street crowd. They looked absolutely clueless and blank." This confirms the invaluable contribution by The Tienanmen Paper, a book that gives us idea of how top leaders monopolize decision-making. 4.0 stars.

The "Tiananmen Papers" is a rare window into the Communist Chinese decision making process. Its fine detail (said to be three times longer in the Chinese language edition) yields unprecedented insights into the march of events that led to the bloody crushing of the Chinese democracy and anti-corruption movement of 1989.

This book should cause every reader to wonder if the Chinese Communist Party can ever peacefully share or give up power - and, if it can't, what the future holds for China and the rest of Asia.

I recommend "The Tiananmen Papers" to all those who really have a passion to study China - anyone else shouldn't bother as they'll never get past the first dozen pages.