Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady

Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady
by Laura Tyson Li

Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady
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Book Summary Information

Author: Laura Tyson Li
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-09-01
ISBN: 0802143229
Number of pages: 576
Publisher: Grove Press

Book Reviews of Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady

Book Review: Exceptionally good biography of an exceptionally interesting woman
Summary: 4 Stars

Laura Tyson Li has succeeded in that rarest of achievements when it comes to political biographies: to perfectly interweave the history of the person with the history of the nation, in this case Nationalist China. Madame Chiang Kai Shek's history is, of course, never boring and the book, of necessity set in one of China's most turbulent periods, is so well written that it almost reads like a PD James novel. The only observation that tempers that very merited praise in my view is that the author at times seems torn between her - sometimes critical - affection for Madame and her obvious loathing for seemingly everything that the Nationalist government that Madame did so much to support and promote stood for, including its anticommunism. For example, what does it matter that Chiang Kai Shek was a aloof and humorless and that Mao was a pleasant charmer? To me, that doesn't count for much in the light of the fact that Mao was a mass murderer and Chiang wasn't. Throughout the book, sometimes visibly popping up from between the lines, the reader encounters Tyson Li's references to anything and anyone conservative or Republican as either inept, corrupt, or both. While there was a good deal of influence peddling in Washington DC (hardly improved since), it defies belief that it was limited to Republicans favoring the Nationalists in China. However, this (subjective) remark is the book's only flaw, and I can warmly recommend it.

Summary of Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady

Now in paperback,Madame Chiang Kai-shekis the first biography of one of history?s most intriguing and controversial political figures. Beautiful, brilliant, and captivating, Madame Chiang Kai-shek seized unprecedented power during China?s long and violent civil war. She passionately argued against Chinese Communism in the international arena and influenced decades of Sino-American relations and modern Chinese history. Raised in one of China?s most powerful families and educated at Wellesley College, Soong Mayling went on to become wife, chief adviser, interpreter, and propagandist to Nationalist leader Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. She sparred with international leaders like Churchill and Roosevelt, and impressed Westerners and Chinese alike with her acumen, charm, and glamour. But she was also decried as a manipulative “Dragon Lady,? and despised for living in American-style splendor while Chinese citizens suffered under her husband?s brutal oppression. The result of years of extensive research in the United States and abroad, and written with access to previously classified CIA and diplomatic files,Madame Chiang Kai-shekobjectively evaluates one of the most powerful and fascinating women of the twentieth century.

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