Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45

Immovable force meets immovable object as Chaing Kai-shek and General George Stilwell struggle over American policy to develop a sustainable Chinese Nationalist army. Baraba Tuchman has explained in her lucid prose style a vitally important piece of modern history which led directly to the way modern China has developed and maintained its relationships with the west. In her introduction she apologises to the Chinese people for the way their leadership appears, pointing out this was a particularly low point.

Nobody really comes out well except George Sitwell, an irascible, upright person who obviously had the best interests of China at heart but was unable to carry with him either the American administration nor the wily Chiang. ( )

This is another great book by Tuchman, author of the famed 'Guns of August'. Although lengthy, it gives wonderfully deep yet easy reading coverage of the history of the US and Chinese involvement in the China--Burma-India theater during WWII. In style and concept it is very similar to Bright Shining Lie by Sheehan about JP Vann in Vietnam.

With reference to Vietnam, I was staggered by the similarities between US involvement with Chaing KS and Diem 20 years later and would love this to have been discussed in this book.

The writing style is engaging and often very humorous owing to the cantankerous nature of the main protagonist. I particularly enjoyed Stillwell's constant references to CKS as 'the Peanut'. Good as it is, it does not touch on the ensuing civil war and the Kuomintang exile to Formosa - Mao is barely mentioned at all.

I wish I had read this before trying to understand US involvement in Korea, the debacle of McCarthyism and the ultimate disaster of Vietnam - all of which can be seen as a continuum from US involvement with the Peanut. ( )

This long, very fair history is still the definitive work on General Joseph Stilwell and his World War II service in China. ( )

For quite a time in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I took Barbara Tuchman (well, her books) with me on successive vacations. While I enjoyed each of them, Stilwell was the toughest for me to plow through, probably because I knew the least about the topic going in. One thing I've liked about her books is the sometimes unusual view she takes... For example, the American Revolution from the Dutch point of view.

Unfortunately, she passed away before I ran out of vacations. Alas.

As all her books are, Stilwell is a well organized, well thought out and written, interesting book with insights that were unknown to me. ( )

1185. Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45, by Barbara W. Tuchman (27 Sep 1972) I found this an excellent and muchly moving reading experience, tho I confess this was partly because it was confrmatory of much I so passionately argued in 1952--when I was not sure that I was sure I was right, altho the book only covers events till Stilwell left China and India on Oct 26, 1944, he having been recalled at Chiang's demand. It paints a clear picture of the deficiencies of Chiang, and shows that the Chiang regime could not last in China, just as I claimed in 1952, at the height of the McCarthy years. ( )