Search Results: History - Asia from I Cannot Live Without Books

A Forse So Swift: Mao, Truman, and the Birth of Modern China, 1949 by Kevin Peraino
THERE IS A RED "CLOSEOUT/REMAINDER" MARK ON THE BOTTOM PAGE EDGES.
In the opening months of 1949, U.S. President Harry S. Truman found himself faced with a looming diplomatic catastrophe -- " perhaps the greatest that this country has ever suffered," as the journalist Walter Lippmann put it. Throughout the spring and summer, Mao Zedon'gs Communist armies fanned out across mainland China, annihilating the rival troops of America's one-time ally Chiang Kai-shek and taking control of Beijing, Shanghai, and other major cities. As Truman and his aides -- including his shrewd, ruthless secretary of state, Dean Acheson -- scrambled to formulate a response, they were forced to contend with not only Mao, but also with unrelenting political enemies at home. Over the course of this tumultuous year, Mao would fashion a new revolutionary government in Beijing, laying the foundation for the creation of modern China, while Chiang… Read More

The New Koreans: The Story of a Nation by Michael Breen
Just a few decades ago, the South Koreans were ain impoverished, agricultural people. In one generation they moved from the fields to Silicon Valley, driven by anger at the rival North, which invaded them, and defiance of their history to rise from backwardness to advanced-nation status. They accomplished this through three totally unexpected miracles: economic development, democratization, and the arrival of their culture to global attention.
Who are the Koreans? What are they like? The nature and values of the Korean people provide the background for a detailed examination of the complex history of the country, in particular its division and its emergence as an economic superpower. The New Koreans examines how they have been perceived by outsiders, the features that color their "national character," and how their emergence from backwardness, poverty, and brutality happened. It also looks at why they remain unhappy -- with the lowest birth rates… Read More