She has written and co-edited several books on naval policy and related affairs, and subjects of interest to the United States Navy or Department of Defense.

Other works she has authored concern the political and military history of East Asia, particularly China, during the modern era.

magna cum laude in Latin American studies at Harvard College in 1979.

She spent ten years acquiring her Ph.D. in Russian and Chinese history at Columbia University, which included five years of research and language study in China, Taiwan, Russia, Japan, and Australia.

[4] She is married to Bruce A. Elleman, who is the William Vi Pratt Professor of International History at the U.S.