Annalee Whitmore Fadiman (1916–2002)

The biography of N. Eldon Tanner's ([b:N. Eldon Tanner, his life and service|3224506|N. Eldon Tanner, his life and service|G. Homer Durham|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309673606s/3224506.jpg|3258600]) mentioned that this book was very meaningful to him. Therefore I became interested in it.

I read this book at the same time as [b:The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion|11324722|The Righteous Mind Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion|Jonathan Haidt|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351393217s/11324722.jpg|16252969]. They both deal with politics and reading them at the same time I made a lot of connections that I might not have otherwise gotten.

There is a lot of history in here, and although it painted a very different picture than I had ever heard before, it felt credible. As I got into the last chapter or two, it began to feel more like a position paper. Unfortunately, the warning wasn't enough.

Written more than 50 years ago, the blunders described in here are common throughout history, and thus this book is still meaningful. I was impressed with the depth and to a lesser extent the breadth of coverage of China starting within the time of WWII, and continuing until about a year after Japan surrendered. I had hoped to learn how the Communists came to power, but as of the end of the book, it was about an equal match between them and the old government. I looked up what happened, and learned a little about what happened after the end of the book. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Civil_War

I have long wondered how the Chinese went from a millennium of being perhaps the greatest power on the earth to being a backward country. This book didn't directly address that question, but from having read it, I now have an intriguing piece of the puzzle filled in.

It gave enough information that now I have a rudimemtary understanding of why the Communists came into power. The abuse of the people was a continual scene throughout the book. Before reading this, I had little love for Communists and thought that Chiang Kai-shek was a "good guy". Now I have a much better feel for why the people found them attractive. Chiang Kai-shek had one "good" trait in that he was violently anti-Communist. On the other hand as an oppressive dictator who tolerated graft and corruption, he did not alleviate the suffering of the people. "Believing that corruption and a lack of morals were key reasons that the KMT lost mainland China to the Communists, Chiang attempted to purge corruption by dismissing members of the KMT accused of graft." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Kai-shek)


If a person read and understood this book, they would have a good idea what not to do. Doing things right is a lot harder task, but understanding history is a good start.
… (mais)

I found this book at a used book store and stashed it away on a shelf with several other books I was collecting about China. What a treasure of information this book turned out to be! Theodore White gives us the history of China's politics from the time of their revolution through WWII in a style that is informative, yet a page turner. His book includes many first hand observations of the situation in China during WWII, a perspective few Americans can offer. He was not a fan of the Communists or the Kuomintang, but rather a supporter of a middle ground, a federal union that would allow for Democracy in China. I'm so glad I found this book, and thrilled that it is now available via Kindle! If you are at all curious about China's history this is a MUST READ.… (mais)