The Nationalist Era in China, 1927-1949

This is a thorough if by no means exhaustive account of the Nationalist Period in China. It's organized into five main sections. The first and most useful for westerners is the history of Nationalist China during from 1927 - 1937. It includes the major personalities, economic problems, military problems, and ineptitude of the Nationalist rule. It doesn't just focus on the problems and it does discuss the progress that the GMD made towards uniting and industrializing the country. This is followed by a similar history for the communists over the same period, covering the expansion of the base areas, their work in the White areas and the internal politicking that was going on. The next two sections are similar but they talk about China during the war years. The first is about the Nationalist war effort and the problems faced by the government and economy in Free China while the second section focuses on these same questions with regard to the communists. The final section of the book is devoted to the reopening of the Civil War. It talks about the breakdown in peace talks and in power sharing arrangements leading up to the shooting along with the role that foreign powers played in brokering peace after the Japanese surrender The coverage of battles and offensives is not exhaustive and is delineated by year and by campaign. There is also discussion with regards to foreign aid, domestic support, and hyperinflation. I have the 1993 edition, so the 1999 one may be slightly different than what I read. In tone, it is very conventional in it's treatment of the reasons for the fall of the Guomindang. Those who have read more recent histories of communist china may cringe at this book's tendency to take PRC statistics at face value. It isn't a whole hearted endorsement, but the book seems to suspend skepticism somewhat to get pretty numbers for the charts. The numbers for the Guomindang areas are much more trustworthy as those have a variety of sources. If you see a chart in here that seems to good to be true, check the citation. The citations are excellent so you should have no trouble figuring where any information is coming from. For those looking for a tactical account of specific battles, this is not the book for you. While several battles are discussed in depth, they are mainly used as examples to show how the different sides (Japanese, communist, and nationalist)fought the war. The major campaigns are discussed in depth but only with regard to their effect on the larger political situation. Another minor quibble is the use of Wade Giles for most of the Romanization. Couple this with a lack of character transcriptions and it can be sometimes difficult to know whether Chu Teh is the same person as Zhu De. All that being said, this is the best book I have found that discusses the Nanjing decade in China. Every other book of this period tends to focus on the Communists and their struggle