China and the People’s Liberation Army defines great powers and developing states and suggests that the purposes of their militaries are fundamentally different. Solomon Karmel works to debunk frequently unquestioned myths about China s status as a great power. He employs extensive research of Chinese and foreign sources, secret and public, to understand shortcomings in the strategic, military, and industrial overhaul of China s military-industrial complex. His thematic framework and case-study analysis have important implications for the study of developing-world militaries and East Asian security.