[1] The immediate conflict at Tiananmen Square was brought to an end by the People's Liberation Army which used force, causing the death of hundreds of civilians.

In the book, which centres around a "detailed reconstruction of the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 3 and 4, 1989,"[4] the author examines the confusion of, and mistakes made by, the Chinese authorities, as well as the role of the "Tank Man", the civilian who famously stood his ground in front of a column of four army tanks that were leaving Tiananmen Square.

[1] June Teufel Dreyer, writing in The China Quarterly states that "the author skillfully weaves eyewitness accounts into a smoothly flowing narrative.

"[5] However, the reviewer finds it "difficult to accept Brook's conclusion, advanced in the final pages of the book and without prior conceptualization" in which he makes a "startling last-minute resort to external imperialism-as-bogeyman.

He sums up Quelling the People as "a moving book that vividly displays the extraordinary bravery of the residents of Beijing.