Salisbury has written 4 good books on Chinese history in the 1980s and 1990s. Sadly, his books are now out of print.
In The New Emperors he gave us many insights, but no answers for some.
For example, he told us that those who perpetrated the crimes of the Cultural revolution were never punished. (p 458).
Why did Deng Xiao Ping does not take revenge especially when his own son was crippled after being thrown out of a 4th-floor room? (p 320).
On the Tiananmen incident, he told us that “many victims were members of the armed police, their faces and often their skulls crushed by savage beatings. At intervals, daring young men emerged from the shrubbery, hurled a grenade into an army vehicle. ” (p 453). He estimated between 1000 and 2000 were killed in Beijing. But we are not told how many civilians were, how many soldiers. (p 454).