Ranging from politics to society and business, these richly observed, candid essays by Atlantic Monthly correspondent Fallows capture the complexity, tumult, promise of modern China, not least the enormously poor job the country does of presenting itself to the rest of the world (he suggests the government must have hired The Onion as its image consultant). Originally appearing in The Atlantic Monthly, the reports range from 2006, when Fallows and his wide moved to Shanghai, to November 2008.  (CHN559, $15.00)