季風讀者最喜歡的月度榜單 · 2026年6月
六月的季風書單，從香港國安法時代的記憶與社會轉型出發，延伸至當代中國、美中關係、西藏歷史、疫情治理、東北文化與個人書寫。中文書單既關注宏觀制度如何改變一座城市與一個社會，也回到家族、成長、藝術與文學之中，理解人在政治、歷史與記憶夾縫中的選擇。
英文書單則圍繞軟實力、移民政治、教育競爭、台灣歷史、中國外交與亞洲帝國遺產展開。從 Lily Qi 的華裔移民政治經驗、Irene Wu 對軟實力的量化研究，到高考制度、周恩來傳記、民族主義抗議與南亞分治史，這些作品共同追問：制度如何塑造個人，國家如何動員情感，而歷史又如何持續進入今天。
The June list explores how history, institutions, migration, memory, and political power shape individual lives and public worlds. Moving from Hong Kong, Tibet, China, Taiwan, and Northeast Asia to American politics, education, diplomacy, and South Asian partition, these books offer different ways to understand how the past remains active in the present.
【中文書單 Top 10】
《巨浪後：國安法時代的香港與香港人》
孔誥烽、吳介民、陳健民、陳玉潔、李立峯、梁啟智等／左岸文化
國安法實施後，香港的公共空間、新聞媒體與公民社會急速收縮，大規模抗爭逐漸消失，許多人被迫沉默、離散或轉入更隱蔽的行動。本書由多位長期研究香港的學者共同撰寫，從經濟、地緣政治、新聞、文化與社會運動等角度，描繪「巨浪之後」的香港。看似平靜的表面下，仍有人在風險中保存記憶、維繫社群並尋找彼此，讓這本書成為理解國安法時代香港的重要集體記錄。
《別江》
何偉／八旗文化
二十多年前，何偉在四川涪陵任教，寫下《江城》，記錄改革年代中國社會的流動與希望。2019年，他再次回到中國，這次面對的是習近平時代的大學生、內捲的教育環境、中美關係惡化與新冠疫情。《別江》以何偉的學生、家庭與日常觀察為中心，比較「改革的一代」與「習近平的一代」，呈現中國如何在經濟與社會劇烈變動之中，出現政治停滯、控制加深與未來感消退的矛盾。
《進烤箱的好日子》
李佳穎／自轉星球文化
這是一部遊走於回憶錄、小說與寫作筆記之間的作品。主角阿丹重新整理童年與青春期的記憶：被同學排擠、父母離婚、寄宿生活、愛慕與欺騙，以及那些看似瑣碎卻始終無法消失的成長傷痕。李佳穎以辛辣、活潑又敏銳的語言，追問記憶是否能被準確保存，文字是否可能讓瞬間不朽，而寫作又是否在保存生命的同時，也把活生生的經驗釘死在紙上。
《美中決裂：從接觸到脫鉤，美中分合謎團》
沈大偉 David Shambaugh；侯英豪、郭岱軒譯／好優文化
沈大偉回顧美國對華接觸政策四十年的形成、期待與破裂，分析華府為何從合作與融合的想像，逐步轉向競爭、脫鉤與新冷戰。書中討論新疆、西藏、台灣、南海、貿易與安全等長期矛盾，也檢視美國政策圈如何重新評估中國的政治發展與國際行為。這不只是美中關係史，也是一部關於戰略誤判、制度差異與大國競爭如何累積成今日局面的政治分析。
《當鐵鳥在天空飛翔：1956–1962青藏高原上的秘密戰爭》
李江琳／聯經出版
本書重建1956至1962年間中共在青藏高原上的軍事鎮壓與藏人反抗，揭示長期被官方史料遮蔽的西藏現代史。李江琳訪談數百位西藏耆老，整理大量口述、軍事檔案、官方出版物與地圖，試圖還原戰爭發生的過程及其對藏人社會的深遠影響。透過詳實史料，本書不僅說明漢藏衝突的歷史根源，也讓讀者理解今日西藏問題如何形成。
《林布蘭：永遠的先行者》
韓秀／三民書局
韓秀以文學性的筆觸重訪林布蘭的一生，從他在荷蘭黃金時代的成名、肖像畫與蝕刻技法，到妻兒離世、審美轉向、失去市場與晚年貧困。林布蘭曾因明暗對照與寫實肖像而登上畫壇巔峰，卻也因拒絕迎合潮流而被時代拋下。本書不只介紹作品與技法，更關注藝術家如何在失去、孤獨與失敗中持續創作，呈現一個超越時代審美、忠於自身觀看方式的先行者。
《每一句話語都坐著別的眼睛》
赫塔・米勒／貴州人民出版社
這部散文集收錄赫塔・米勒的九篇文章，從羅馬尼亞德語村莊、工廠生活、秘密警察監控、恐懼與流亡，寫到語言、文學與個人尊嚴。作為2009年諾貝爾文學獎得主，米勒以冷峻、凝練而帶有超現實感的文字，揭示專制社會中語言如何被污染，日常如何被監視，而寫作又如何成為一種沉默的抵抗。這是進入她生命經驗與文學世界的重要入口。
《杉樹坡：一個家族的百年故事》
郭于華／博登書屋
《杉樹坡》以大巴山深處一個家族的百年命運為主線，透過數代人的生活、婚姻、遷徙、政治遭遇與日常選擇，呈現近現代中國鄉村的深層變遷。政治運動、經濟轉型與文化秩序不斷撕裂並重塑以血緣為基礎的鄉土社會，而普通人的悲歡與尊嚴則在宏大歷史之下持續存在。這既是一部家族史，也是理解中國基層社會與二十世紀政治變動的重要作品。
《世界中的東北：東北文藝復興》
王德威、宋偉杰編／時報文化
這是一部橫跨近兩千年、匯集百餘位作家與一百二十多篇作品的東北歷史人文讀本。從甲午戰爭、滿洲國、殖民與革命，到「共和國長子」、北大荒、下崗潮與當代東北文學，本書將東北放回中國、東亞與世界史之中。契訶夫、夏目漱石、魯迅、蕭紅、遲子建、班宇、雙雪濤等不同時代的書寫，共同呈現這片土地的移民、殖民、工業、記憶與悲涼，也讓東北成為理解現代中國的重要方法。
《武漢》
楊大利、王琳茱／八旗文化
《武漢》聚焦新冠疫情爆發初期，深入分析武漢封城前數週中國政府的資訊處理、官僚程序與政治決策。楊大利指出，中國衛生系統最初並非毫無反應，但資訊共享受阻、既有認知框架限制、維穩壓力與官員升遷機制，最終讓疫情警訊被壓制、扭曲或忽視。本書試圖回答的，不只是某些官員是否犯錯，而是中國的制度結構如何系統性地製造錯誤，並讓局部危機演變為全球災難。
【English Top 10】
Measuring Soft Power in International Relations
Irene S. Wu / Lynne Rienner Publishers
Soft power is often treated as important but impossible to measure. Irene S. Wu challenges that assumption with the Soft Power Rubric, a framework built from publicly available data on immigration, international education, travel, and film. By examining the breadth and depth of people-to-people connections, the book offers a way to compare countries, trace change over time, and understand how influence travels beyond official diplomacy. It is a practical and original contribution to debates about culture, mobility, diaspora, and international relations.
Elected American: From Red China to Blue Maryland
Lily Qi / Temple University Press
Lily Qi’s memoir traces her journey from Mao-era Shanghai to the Maryland House of Delegates. Along the way, she confronts political fear, immigrant uncertainty, resistance from party institutions, and a viral WeChat disinformation campaign within her own community. The book is both a personal story and a study of democratic participation, showing how immigrant voters learn to navigate a political system that was not designed with them in mind. Qi’s central message is clear: democracy rewards those who participate.
Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder
Asako Yuzuki / Ecco Press
Inspired by a true crime case, Butter follows journalist Rika Machida as she investigates Manako Kajii, a gourmet cook convicted of murdering lonely businessmen. Their conversations begin with recipes and gradually become a disturbing exploration of appetite, femininity, shame, work, and desire. As Rika enters Kajii’s world of butter, food, and transgression, she begins to question the expectations imposed on women in contemporary Japan. The novel is part crime story, part social satire, and part celebration of forbidden pleasure.
The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China
Ruixue Jia, Hongbin Li, and Claire Cousineau / Belknap Press
Each year, millions of Chinese students compete in the gaokao, a single examination that can determine access to university and social mobility. Combining personal experience, surveys, historical research, and economic analysis, this book explains why families invest so heavily in test preparation and how the exam system serves both economic development and political governance. It also explores the limits of meritocracy, the inequalities hidden behind standardized competition, and the growing influence of Chinese educational expectations on debates in the United States.
Mother River
Can Xue / Open Letter
In this collection of thirteen stories, Can Xue creates a surreal world where rivers remember, light shifts shape, and ordinary reality opens into something unstable and unknowable. Her characters move through dreamlike landscapes in search of animals, memories, meaning, and connection. Combining the absurd with philosophical intensity, Mother River explores the boundaries between nature and humanity, self and world, the visible and the hidden. It is a challenging and deeply imaginative work from one of contemporary China’s most original writers.
Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan
Jonathan Manthorpe / St. Martin’s Griffin
Forbidden Nation presents Taiwan’s history through four centuries of colonial rule, strategic competition, migration, conflict, and democratic development. The island’s geography placed it at the center of major trade routes and imperial ambitions, making its political future inseparable from regional and global power struggles. Manthorpe emphasizes the determination of Taiwan’s people to survive repeated external domination and build their own political identity. The result is an accessible history of how Taiwan arrived at its present moment of uncertainty and possibility.
The Monstrosity of Our Century: The War on Palestine and the Last Western Man
Amir Nour / Clarity Press
Amir Nour examines the war on Gaza and its wider regional consequences, placing current violence within a longer history of colonialism, apartheid, Western power, and Zionist politics. The book discusses Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran, while challenging dominant Western narratives about October 7, antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and Israel’s claim to represent global Jewry. Written as a sweeping political argument, it asks how the war on Palestine may accelerate a broader transformation in the international order after centuries of Western dominance.
Zhou Enlai: A Life
Jian Chen / Belknap Press
Jian Chen offers a major biography of Zhou Enlai, China’s first premier, foreign minister, revolutionary organizer, and intelligence figure. Zhou worked closely with Mao while often trying to contain the damage caused by radical campaigns and preserve China’s administrative and diplomatic stability. Drawing on extensive research, the book presents Zhou as neither a simple moderating hero nor a passive servant, but as a skilled political actor whose compromises, achievements, and moral ambiguities shaped the People’s Republic and its place in the world.
Powerful Patriots: Nationalist Protest in China’s Foreign Relations
Jessica Chen Weiss / Oxford University Press
Why does the Chinese government sometimes allow nationalist protests and sometimes suppress them? Jessica Chen Weiss examines anti-American, anti-Japanese, and Taiwan-related demonstrations to show how authoritarian governments use public protest as a diplomatic signal. Allowing protests can demonstrate resolve and make compromise more difficult, while repression can reassure foreign governments and create room for negotiation. The book reveals how nationalism is managed rather than simply unleashed, offering a sophisticated account of domestic politics, public emotion, and Chinese foreign policy.
Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia
Sam Dalrymple / W. W. Norton & Company
Sam Dalrymple tells the history of modern South Asia through five partitions that broke apart the British Indian Empire and created twelve modern states. From Burma and Aden to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Gulf, borders were redrawn through colonial decisions, war, revolution, migration, and betrayal. Based on archival research, multilingual sources, and hundreds of interviews, Shattered Lands connects familiar events to a much larger imperial story and shows how exile, division, and unresolved borders continue to shape Asia today.