Rating: 
Summary: Answers what happened in the Asian half of WWII.
Review: This book explodes the myths and misconceptions of the American people during a time of great upheaval in China and Southeast Asia. It lays out the mistakes and misunderstandings of the America leaders and statesmen in trying to work with the real and supposed leaders of China. Covering the final times of Chinese Warlords through the times of Sun Yat Sen, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and into WWII with the Nationalist Chinese and Mao's Communist movement, this book reveals all of the history and understanding that only Barbara Tuchman is equipped to accomplish. This book holds no punches and exposes the many mistakes made by American leaders, who did not listen to Stilwell, in making foreign policy in an area of the world where foreign policy and gamesmanship was created and practiced to a high art. For example, Madame Chaing's propaganda trips to the US is an excellent example of how the American people and its leaders were duped into believing that the Nationalist Chinese were doing all they could to fight off the Japanese. When in reality they stockpiled the weaponry supplied by the US for their battles against Mao's Communists instead of their intended use against Japan. Ms. Tuchman enlightens the reader that when the Communists and Mao took control of China their hatred of the US for supporting the Nationalist Chinese was a foregone conclusion. Ms. Tuchman's coverage of the China, Burma, India (CBI) theater is masterful as well as her handling of "Vinegar" Joe Stilwell. "Vinegar" Joe is a General more skillfull, humble and knowledgeable than any US General to have ever held the rank. He was a master of winning battles and achieving success with the poorest health conditions, meagerest of men, supplies and support. If Joe Stilwell had the support given to Eisenhower or MacArthur, "Vinegar" Joe would have been recognized as one of America's greatest Generals. But then again, Joe Stilwell was a humble man who got the job done and didn't much care who got the credit. It is unfortunate that Ms Tuchman is no longer with us. This one book (which I have read three times) lays the ground work for understanding Asia and the thinking processes of its leadership in the present world.
Rating:
Summary: Still An Admirable and Useful Work
Review: This book has stood the test of time and it is good to see it available again. Barbara Tuchman was not a professional toiler in the trenches of academe and the wide spread acclaim she gathered for Guns of August (c.f) and her other works did not endear her to those who could not write a coherent and understandable sentence.
For a work done so long ago before many of the files were opened in the archives of the world especially those then held by the CIA and now declassified, it still provides insight into the man and his times. It is just too unfortunate that he was such an irascible person, perhaps he would have prevailed.
As it was, they did not fire him directly, they kicked him upstairs and replaced him with two generals. :-). One wonders what he would have said and done in response to the barkers about "Who lost China.?" He would have put the blame right where it belonged, on Chaing Kai Shek. I do not think he would have stood idly by and let the State Department railroad Service, Davies, and the others out of the government. And would have gotten David Barrett his well earned star.
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Summary: Wonderfully Researched, Balanced, Well-Written Account
Review: This book is about a period that is both so important and yet largely neglected in American education. The book is quite easy to read with its strong steady narrative flow, its interest in the personalities at play as well as its study of the background of their struggles. Since the book came out around the time of the Vietnam War, I assumed it would be more anti-American foreign policy in tone than it is. It's quite balanced. Tuchman obviously regards Stilwell as the hero of the tale. It's hard to come to any other conclusion about this deeply humble but brilliant, unwearying but always frustrated man. Yet she is quite fair in assessing the difficulties faced by Stilwell's close-to-home antagonist, Chiang Kai Shek. She is also not sparing in describing the courage, success and tactical genius of Claire Chennault, whose (clearly wrong-headed) conception of the War was opposed to that of Stilwell. The story of America in China in WWII and its aftermath is so fascinating, so HUGELY important - and still so relatively little publicized - especially in relation to the affairs of MacArthur, Nimitz and Halsey in the Pacific or Eisenhower, Bradley and Patton in Europe. I long for a movie that will show the fascinating struggle among Stilwell, Chiang, and Chennault in relation to the Japanese and Mao's Communists. It can be said that America's foreign policy in 1943-50 has far less immediate impact in post Cold War Europe today than in Japan, China, Burma, and Indonesia. America's two costly wars since WWII have been in Asia. This book gives a wonderful background to anyone interested in how did the existing state of affairs in China come to pass? America was intimately involved - particularly two Americans - 1) Claire Lee Chennault, a maverick Cajun from Louisiana who resigned from the American Air Force in rage at their refusal to adopt his revolutionary views on fighters and bombing - and became the head of China's Air Force in 1937; 2) Joseph Stilwell, an upper middle class WASP from a family that went back to the early 1600s, who had been intimately involved with China since the 1920s. It's just a great story, and it's unlikely you know much of it.
Rating:
Summary: Another Tuchman Masterpiece
Review: This book was published in 1972 during the middle of US involvement in Vietnam. It must have been tough for many of the politicians of that time (and many other observers) to see the parallels to the mistakes the US made in pouring money into Chaing Kai Shek (Jiang Jieshi) and what we had done and were doing with the Diem/Thieu regimes in South Vietnam. The books is important today, not only for the perspective it provides into the evolution of American paranoia of Communism in the late 40's, 50's nd 60's, but we still have a propensity for pouring money into questionable regimes that do not have popular support simply because we are afraid of what the popular support might produce. But as Tuchman clearly demonstrates, sooner or later it happens anyway, no matter what we do.
Rating:
Summary: Another Tuchman Masterpiece
Review: This book was published in 1972 during the middle of US involvement in Vietnam. It must have been tough for many of the politicians of that time (and many other observers) to see the parallels to the mistakes the US made in pouring money into Chaing Kai Shek (Jiang Jieshi) and what we had done and were doing with the Diem/Thieu regimes in South Vietnam. The books is important today, not only for the perspective it provides into the evolution of American paranoia of Communism in the late 40's, 50's nd 60's, but we still have a propensity for pouring money into questionable regimes that do not have popular support simply because we are afraid of what the popular support might produce. But as Tuchman clearly demonstrates, sooner or later it happens anyway, no matter what we do.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant foundation for understanding US-China policy
Review: This book won the Pulitzer prize for the soundest of reasons. As the other reviews indicate, this book gives perspective to the actions and times of General Stillwell in China, but like Ms. Tuchman's other books "Stillwell" operates on several levels, giving a sensible and ultimately useful history of Sino-American relations since the arrival of the American missionaries in the middle of the 19th century. By the time I finished reading this book, American foreign policy towards China made great sense even when those policies were ill-founded. I don't believe you can find a more profitable or enjoyable read in all of history. Definately give this book a read.
Rating:
Summary: READ IT FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING
Review: This is one of Tuchman's more readable books. I purchased this work a number of years ago and it has been a valuable addition to my collection. I read it, or portions of it, even now, every so often. The Stilwell and the American involvement in China must be addressed in order to understand the scope of the war in the Pacific and indeed, very necessary to our understanding into our complex relationship with China, even to this day. There is no doubt that Tuchman was quite enamored with Stilwell, but this is good as I feel it gives the book a bit more passion than the average, dry biography. Little is known of this American involvement and it has been more ignored by historians than other aspects of the war. Stilwell was and is a fastinating figure, often misunderstood, but one who had a profound influence on the events of those days that are still with us today. Now I must admit to being a very big fan of Tuchman and am sure my some of my delight with this book comes from that. That being said, this books is a good read, and should be added to your library.
Rating:
Summary: Explodes naive American myths about China
Review: Tuchman uses General Stilwell as a vehicle to explore Chinese society and the Chinese people. We see China through the eyes of a man who actually understood it. We see the banality of American policy towards China, and the severe price the Chinese people have paid for our illusions
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Summary: Excellent History of the China-India-Burma Theater
Review: Tuchman wrote "Stillwell and the American Experience in China" during the waning years of the Vietnam war, and it is difficult not to draw a straight line between Stillwell's frustrations with Chiang Hai-Shek and the Johnson/Nixon administrations' later projects in Indochina. Stillwell was in charge of the China relationship, with coordinating mainland China operations against the Japanese Imperial Army with the more fruitful (if almost just as frustrating) campaigns in Burma. Much is made of Eisenhower's career as a diplomat-general but Stillwell was even more the proconsular figure; constantly shuttling between the Nationalist court and the other allies. Not only is Tuchman scathing on the subject of Chaing and his Lady MacBeth wife, she is also deeply skeptical of British motives throughout the Burma campaign. Of all the fronts in World War Two, the Chinese theater is easily the most complicated, and this is the best work, in English, on the topic.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent History of the China-India-Burma Theater
Review: Tuchman wrote "Stillwell and the American Experience in China" during the waning years of the Vietnam war, and it is difficult not to draw a straight line between Stillwell's frustrations with Chiang Hai-Shek and the Johnson/Nixon administrations' later projects in Indochina. Stillwell was in charge of the China relationship, with coordinating mainland China operations against the Japanese Imperial Army with the more fruitful (if almost just as frustrating) campaigns in Burma. Much is made of Eisenhower's career as a diplomat-general but Stillwell was even more the proconsular figure; constantly shuttling between the Nationalist court and the other allies. Not only is Tuchman scathing on the subject of Chaing and his Lady MacBeth wife, she is also deeply skeptical of British motives throughout the Burma campaign. Of all the fronts in World War Two, the Chinese theater is easily the most complicated, and this is the best work, in English, on the topic.
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