Red Star Over China by Edgar Snow (1937) — The American journalist's account of his time with the Communist forces in Yan'an, written just years after the Long March that began in Jiangxi. Snow interviewed Mao at length and produced the first comprehensive account of the revolutionary movement for a Western audience. Essential background for understanding the memorial sites you'll visit in Nanchang and Ruijin.
The Long March: The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth by Sun Shuyun (2006) — A reexamination of the Long March based on interviews with survivors and newly available archives. Sun's account challenges the official mythology while remaining respectful of the genuine hardship involved. It reframes the departure from Jiangxi as something considerably more complicated than the heroic narrative presented at the memorial sites.
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang (1991) — A family memoir spanning three generations of Chinese women across the twentieth century, including the revolutionary period and Cultural Revolution. Not set in Nanchang specifically, but the political context it illuminates is directly relevant to understanding the city's self-presentation as the "Heroes' City" and the weight that 1927 still carries in Chinese public life.