Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Civil War
By (author) Christopher R. Lew, Edwin Pak-wah Leung
Not available to order
Publication date:
29 July 2013Length of book:
336 pagesPublisher
Scarecrow PressISBN-13: 9780810878747
The Chinese Civil War, which lasted several years or several decades, depending on how you define it, was one of the most momentous wars of the 20th century for it determined the fate of the world’s most populous country, and was bitterly fought with millions of combatants involved and hundreds of millions of civilians affected. More to the point, it was won by the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong, who imposed Communist rule, while the Nationalists retreated to Taiwan. It also heated up the Cold War for quite some time, as the Communists were supported by the Soviet Union and the Nationalists by the United States.
This second edition of the Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Civil War studies the longer, broader war and its chronology carefully tracks the major events. The introduction then provides a broad overview, describing the contending forces, and showing how the Communists come out on top. The details, and these are crucial, are laid out in over 200 cross-referenced dictionary entries dealing with the opposing forces and parties, the major campaigns and battles, the Long March, and of course the leadership on both sides. This book, one of few such in English, provides a very solid basis for study, but that can be accomplished more effectively by consulting the titles listed in an extensive bibliography.
This second edition of the Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Civil War studies the longer, broader war and its chronology carefully tracks the major events. The introduction then provides a broad overview, describing the contending forces, and showing how the Communists come out on top. The details, and these are crucial, are laid out in over 200 cross-referenced dictionary entries dealing with the opposing forces and parties, the major campaigns and battles, the Long March, and of course the leadership on both sides. This book, one of few such in English, provides a very solid basis for study, but that can be accomplished more effectively by consulting the titles listed in an extensive bibliography.
First published in 2002, and later reprinted as The A-to-Z of the Chinese Civil War (2010), this 2d edition has over 100 more pages of text. Lew, a U.S. Army veteran, has substantially revised and expanded the contents of 1st edition. The 12-page introduction provides the necessary background overview that one needs to understand this conflict, which is also a part of the Second World War and the Cold War. There are over 200 entries describing critical events, important personages, troop movements, proclamations, organizational structure, and foreign involvement. There are plentiful see and see also references, and highlighted words in the text indicate the cross-referencing to other entries, where one can look for more information. . . .This sturdily bound work is the main English-language reference tool for this event, and is available online as well through EBRARY and EBSCO e-book collections. It complements Lawrence R. Sullivan’s Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Communist Party (see ARBA 2013, entry 638). It is suitable for the reference collections of all academic and large public libraries, especially those lacking the 1st edition.