Rush Doshi, The Long Game: China’s Grand Strategy to Displace American Order (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021).

Doshi is a key China expert on the National Security Council—others outrank him but don't have the same degree of expertise. Before joining the NSC, he got a PhD from Harvard and worked at some of the most important national security think tanks, including CNAS and Brookings. He is extremely well-connected in the foreign policy establishment and his primary mentor, Kurt Campbell, is head of Asia policy on the NSC.

This book provides probably the clearest and strongest rationale for a confrontational, zero-sum relationship with China. It crystallizes a lot of the conventional wisdom in DC, so reading it will help us understand why the foreign policy elite is so worried about China and what they're likely to do about it. The goal of reading the book is to develop our analysis on the motivations behind US foreign policy, refine our arguments for a progressive alternative, and help us shape a strategy to prevent great power conflict and win progressive change.