Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost - Couverture rigide

Fenby, Jonathan

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0743231449 ISBN 13 : 9780743231442

Editeur : Free Press, 2003

Synopsis

Book by Fenby Jonathan

A propos du livre

Revue de presse

'A magisterial account of the brave and unfulfilled life of the man who lost China to Communism' HISTORY TODAY
'The author proves himself master of his material...Fenby has produced a fast-paced, fair-minded account of a complex career. His coherent narrative, enriched by telling observations and engaging vignettes, fills an important gap in the public understanding of both Chiang and modern China.' Graham Hutchings, LITERARY REVIEW
'Fenby has new material, none of it making the Gimo more likeable but clearing up some old mysteries, but, above all, ...Fenby...has a gripping story, and tells it with great verve and insight' Murray Sayle, SPECTATOR
'We are all going to have to become more familiar with Chinese politics in the decades to come, and Fenby's book is a solid place to start'
Independent on Sunday 4/1
'The first full-scale biography in English for a generation, Fenby's persuasive narrative draws on new sources to paint a portrait of a man swept up in extraordinary historical turmoil, a leader who found himself opposite the wily Mao Tse-tung. This masterly political survey is also complemented by a fascinating portrait of the generalissimo's complicated private life'
Observer
'Highly readable...it is an epic tale and Fenby tells it with panache...using books and newspapers of the time to re-create the glitter and grime of the China that Chiang lost'
Michael Sheridan Sunday Times
'One of the merits of Jonathan Fenby is its fairmindedness. Fenby does not gloss over the corruption that poisoned Chiang's regime...Nor is Fenby squeamish about describing the brutality of Chiang's campaigns to get China under his thumb. He is rather good on the gory and grotesque details' Ian Buruma, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
'Excellent...highly readable' ECONOMIST
'Fenby's book does an excellent job' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'Jonthan Fenby starts his important new biography, the first of substance for a quarter of a century' LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS
'Jonathan Fenby's spirited Generalissimo ... offers a fresh look at the Chungking regime with revisionist interpretations of the 1927-49 Nationalist decades...Fenby gives a vivid account of the mess and heroism of [the Northern Expedition]... Fenby...makes good use of scholarly literature' Robert Bickers, TLS
'Fenby brings to life the enormous suffering that China went through . . . vivid' Hans van de Ven, THES
‘Jonathon Fenby gives us a good idea of what China might be like if he’d [Chiang] still been in charge’
Telegraph 20/03
'As a portrait of a country in turmoil it is indispensable'
Sunday Times 17/4

Présentation de l'éditeur

Following his acclaimed studies of the state of modern France and how Hong Kong has changed since the 1997 handover, Jonathan Fenby now turns his attention to one of the most interesting yet under-reported figures of twentieth-century history.
Chiang Kai-shek was the man who lost China to the Communists. As leader of the nationalist movement, the Kuomintang, Chiang established himself as head of the government in Nanking in 1928. Yet although he laid claim to power throughout the 1930s and was the only Chinese figure of sufficient stature to attend a conference with Churchill and Roosevelt during the Second World War, his desire for unity was always thwarted by threats on two fronts. Between them, the Japanese and the Communists succeeded in undermining Chiang's power-plays, and after Hiroshima it was Mao Zedong who ended up victorious.
Brilliantly re-creating pre-Communist China in all its colour, danger and complexity, Jonathan Fenby's magisterial survey of this brave but unfulfilled life is destined to become the definitive account in the English language.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Free Press
• Date d'édition: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0743231449
• ISBN 13: 9780743231442
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 736