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"A historical classic" that brings Mao Tse-tung, the Long March, and the Chinese revolution to vivid life (Foreign Affairs).
Journalist Edgar Snow was the first Westerner to meet Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Communist leaders in 1936—and out of his up-close experience came this historical account, one of the most important books about the remarkable events that would shape not only the future of Asia, but also the future of the world.
This edition of Red Star Over China includes extensive notes on military and political developments in the country; interviews with Mao himself; a chronology covering 125 years of Chinese history; and nearly a hundred detailed biographies of the men and women who were instrumental in making China what it is today.
“A journalistic scoop in 1937, this book has since become a historical classic. When Snow made his way through Nationalist lines to the barren reaches of Shensi Province in June 1936, the communists had only recently emerged, exhausted and decimated, from their 6,000-mile Long March. Snow found them developing the distinctive brand of communism that governed the lives of the Chinese people during the Maoist era and that only in recent years has begun to change under the impact of Deng Xiaoping's reforms. Many of the men Snow interviewed in 1936 were the first- generation leaders of communist China. The best-known section of the book is Mao's autobiography as related to Snow, which is still one of the most important documents on that subject. Another important section is the graphic description of the Long March. Snow's sympathetic portrayal of the Chinese communists is somewhat naive, however, and it exposed him to widespread criticism during the McCarthy years.”—Donald Zagoria, Foreign Affairs
Edgar Snow, a native of Missouri, went to the Far East when he was twenty-two. He made his home in China for twelve years, studied the country and the language, and lectured at Yenching University in Peking, where his friends included students who are among China's leaders today. As a foreign correspondent in China, Burma, India, and Indochina he worked successively for the Chicago Tribue, New York Sun, New York Herald Tribune and London Daily Herald. Then, as associate editor of the Saturday Evening Post, he reported wartime and postwar events in Asia and Europe and became its widely quoted specialist on China, India, and the U.S.S.R. He is the author of eleven books, including The Battle for Asia, People on Our Side,, Journey to the Beginning, Red China Today: The Other Side of the River, and The Long Revolution. He died in 1972.