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I had been wanting to read some history of China. Since I'm to old to learn Chinese, so that I can converse with our new masters, I thought I should at least learn some history. Zoe is on a book mailing list and she thought I might be interested in Nixon and Mao. Excellent. Nixon and Mao mentioned Edgar Snow and Red Star Over China. Amazing. I searched the web for recommendations for a general history of China and A History of Chinese Civilization was highly recommendated. Justifiably so. It might be better to read them in the reverse order that I read them in.
A History of Chinese Civilization
by Jacques Gernet
This really does give an appreciation of the incredible breadth of Chinese history. Also an appreciation of how much the western powers really screwed China. I hope the Chinese don't hold a grudge. Wouldn't blame them if they did. If you are going to read only one book on China, this is the one.
Red Star over China:
The Classic Account of the Birth of Chinese Communism
by Edgar Snow
I'm a sucker for eyewitness accounts. In 1936 Edgar Snow went behing the Red lines and interviewed Mao and the Communist leadership. Incredible stories. It's clear why the Communists took over. A must read.
Red Star Over China
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In Red Star Over China, Edgar Snow recounts the months that he spent with China’s Chinese Red Army during the Civil War. The book contains a vivid description of the Long March, as well as biographical accounts of a number of persons on both sides of the conflicts, including Zhou Enlai and Peng Dehuai, brief coverage of Lin Biao, and Mao Zedong's own account of his life.
When Snow wrote, no outsider had much idea of what was going on in the Communist-controlled areas of China or who the main personalities were. The Xi'an Incident occurred while he was there. Snow's view was that the imprisonment of Chiang Kai-Shek by his own generals ensured that Nationalist China fought Japan rather than capitulating.
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Here is an account by Edgar Snow's interpreter.
Behind the Red Star over China
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A senior at Yenching University in Beijing (then Beiping) in 1936, I was preparing for the mid-June final exams when the American journalist Edgar Snow revealed to me his secret plans to head for northern Shaanxi.
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Nixon and Mao:
The Week That Changed the World
by Margaret MacMillan
Nixon got his start as a rabid anti-communist. The US had been trying to isolate China since the Communist takeover so Nixon's going to China was a shock. A neccessary shock. It's a detailed account of his week stay in China as well as history that puts it in context.
Great Leap Forward
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“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” Neil Armstrong said — or meant to say — when he set foot on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969. Richard Nixon, who had become president of the United States six months earlier, called it “the greatest week in the history of the world since the creation,” thereby inadvertently irritating the faithful among several of the world’s greatest religions.
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Nixon In China
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Now I'm looking for a recent history of Communist China. Any suggestions?
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