Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost
Jonathan Fenby(Author)
Free Press
Published on 1. December 2003
Book
Hardback
736 pages
978-0-7432-3144-2 (ISBN)
Description
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.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Simon & Schuster Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
16pp halftones
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 163 mm
Weight
1 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7432-3144-2 (9780743231442)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
02/2015
1st Edition
Simon + Schuster LLC
€3.86
Available for download
Person
Jonathan Fenby is a former editor of the OBSERVER and of the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST. He is the author of several books including the acclaimed ON THE BRINK: THE TROUBLE WITH FRANCE and DEALING WITH THE DRAGON: A YEAR IN THE NEW HONG KONG.