Stillwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945   by Barbara Tuchman

Published in 1970, awarded the Pulitzer prize for History,  this is a great book.  Just as relavent today as it was when published over 40 years ago, it is an insightfull look at why the United States totally botched it's relationship with what eventually became the People's Repulic of China.   The story is told through the biography of General Joseph Stillwell.

     "Vinegar Joe" was one of the most underrated soldiers of the Second World War, and he truly loved China and it's people. He first visited China in 1911, an observer to the revolution that ended the Emperor system in the country, and started a change towards democracy.  Stationed in China for the majority of his career, he saw the good and the bad from the ground up.  His constant battles with Chaing Kai-shek, and the unwillingness of the American State Department and U.S. press to see the absolute incompetance of Chaing, and his refusal to do anything that would be contrary of his staying in power, form the foundation of many of the problems we face even into the 21st Century.  George Marshall considered Stillwell his best general.  If not for the amount of time and knowlege of China and it's people, Stillwell might easily have been Marshall's choice to run Overlord and the invasion of Europe.  Given his caustic personality, that might not have gone well. On the other hand his soldiers always loved him and his successes in Burma and the building of the Ledo Road from Burma into southern China rank among the greater achievement of WWII.

     Tuchman also won  the Pulitzer for "The Guns of August", still the definitive history on the reasons for the outbreak of World War I.  She write clearly, concisely and with a great tempo.  While this is more like a textbook in it's depth and scholarship, it is worth the effort.


Vegas Bill