A force so swift
Peraino, Kevin
A force so swift : Mao, Truman, and the birth of modern China, 1949 / Kevin Peraino - New York : Crown, 2017 - xvi, 379 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 25 cm
A compelling year-long narrative of America's response to the fall of Chiang Kai-shek and Nationalist China in 1949, and Mao Zedong and the Communist Party's rise to power, forever altering the world's geopolitical map."--Provided by publisher.
"In the opening months of 1949, U.S. President Harry S. Truman found himself faced with a looming diplomatic catastrophe--"perhaps the greatest that this country has ever suffered," as the journalist Walter Lippmann put it. Throughout the spring and summer, Mao Zedong's Communist armies fanned out across mainland China, annihilating the rival troops of America's one-time ally Chiang Kai-shek and taking control of Beijing, Shanghai, and other major cities. As Truman and his aides--including his shrewd, ruthless secretary of state, Dean Acheson--scrambled to formulate a response, they were forced to contend not only with Mao, but also with unrelenting political enemies at home. Over the course of this tumultuous year, Mao would fashion a new revolutionary government in Beijing, laying the foundation for the creation of modern China, while Chiang Kai-shek would flee to the island sanctuary of Taiwan. These events transformed American foreign policy--leading, ultimately, to decades of friction with Communist China, a long-standing U.S. commitment to Taiwan, and the subsequent wars in Korea and Vietnam. Drawing on Chinese and Russian sources, as well as recently declassified CIA documents, Kevin Peraino tells the story of this remarkable year through the eyes of the key players, including Mao Zedong, President Truman, Secretary of State Acheson, Minnesota congressman Walter Judd, and Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the influential first lady of the Republic of China. Today, the legacy of 1949 is more relevant than ever to the relationships between China, the United States, and the rest of the world, as Beijing asserts its claims in the South China Sea and tensions endure between Taiwan and the mainland."--Publisher's description.
Prologue --
Missimo --
The greatest force --
The old devils --
Bedbugs --
The dean --
All the aces --
Riverdale --
Wait, look, see --
A new world --
Heaven and hell --
A vast and delicate enterprise --
Neverland --
Heat --
Killing the tiger --
The great crescent --
Firecracker --
No devil shall escape --
Dig up the dirt --
First lightning --
Risky business --
The voice --
Through a glass, darkly --
A rather spectacular triumph --
A force so swift --
Epilogue: the mills of the gods
A compelling year-long narrative of America's response to the fall of Chiang Kai-shek and Nationalist China in 1949, and Mao Zedong and the Communist Party's rise to power, forever altering the world's geopolitical map."--Provided by publisher
9780307887245
Brijwasi Book Distributors :H-87, Lalita Park laxmi Nagar Delhi 110092
Political Science
International relations
Taiwan -- Politics and government -- 1945-1975.
Diplomatic relations.
Taiwan -- Foreign relations -- United States.
United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1953.
China -- History -- 1949-
327.73051 PER
A force so swift : Mao, Truman, and the birth of modern China, 1949 / Kevin Peraino - New York : Crown, 2017 - xvi, 379 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 25 cm
A compelling year-long narrative of America's response to the fall of Chiang Kai-shek and Nationalist China in 1949, and Mao Zedong and the Communist Party's rise to power, forever altering the world's geopolitical map."--Provided by publisher.
"In the opening months of 1949, U.S. President Harry S. Truman found himself faced with a looming diplomatic catastrophe--"perhaps the greatest that this country has ever suffered," as the journalist Walter Lippmann put it. Throughout the spring and summer, Mao Zedong's Communist armies fanned out across mainland China, annihilating the rival troops of America's one-time ally Chiang Kai-shek and taking control of Beijing, Shanghai, and other major cities. As Truman and his aides--including his shrewd, ruthless secretary of state, Dean Acheson--scrambled to formulate a response, they were forced to contend not only with Mao, but also with unrelenting political enemies at home. Over the course of this tumultuous year, Mao would fashion a new revolutionary government in Beijing, laying the foundation for the creation of modern China, while Chiang Kai-shek would flee to the island sanctuary of Taiwan. These events transformed American foreign policy--leading, ultimately, to decades of friction with Communist China, a long-standing U.S. commitment to Taiwan, and the subsequent wars in Korea and Vietnam. Drawing on Chinese and Russian sources, as well as recently declassified CIA documents, Kevin Peraino tells the story of this remarkable year through the eyes of the key players, including Mao Zedong, President Truman, Secretary of State Acheson, Minnesota congressman Walter Judd, and Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the influential first lady of the Republic of China. Today, the legacy of 1949 is more relevant than ever to the relationships between China, the United States, and the rest of the world, as Beijing asserts its claims in the South China Sea and tensions endure between Taiwan and the mainland."--Publisher's description.
Prologue --
Missimo --
The greatest force --
The old devils --
Bedbugs --
The dean --
All the aces --
Riverdale --
Wait, look, see --
A new world --
Heaven and hell --
A vast and delicate enterprise --
Neverland --
Heat --
Killing the tiger --
The great crescent --
Firecracker --
No devil shall escape --
Dig up the dirt --
First lightning --
Risky business --
The voice --
Through a glass, darkly --
A rather spectacular triumph --
A force so swift --
Epilogue: the mills of the gods
A compelling year-long narrative of America's response to the fall of Chiang Kai-shek and Nationalist China in 1949, and Mao Zedong and the Communist Party's rise to power, forever altering the world's geopolitical map."--Provided by publisher
9780307887245
Brijwasi Book Distributors :H-87, Lalita Park laxmi Nagar Delhi 110092
Political Science
International relations
Taiwan -- Politics and government -- 1945-1975.
Diplomatic relations.
Taiwan -- Foreign relations -- United States.
United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1953.
China -- History -- 1949-
327.73051 PER
