Civil War in China

The Political Struggle 1945-1949

By (author) Suzanne Pepper

Not available to order

Publication date:

22 July 1999

Length of book:

544 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780742573659

Many books have tried to analyze the reasons for the Chinese communist success in China's 1945_1949 civil war, but Suzanne Pepper's seminal work was the first and remains the only comprehensive analysis of how the ruling Nationalists lost that war_not just militarily, but by alienating the civilian population through corruption and incompetence. Now available in a new edition, this authoritative investigation of Kuomintang failure and communist success explores the new research and archival resources available for assessing this pivotal period in contemporary Chinese history. Even more relevant today given the contemporary debates in Hong Kong and Taiwan over the terms of reunification with a communist-led national government in Beijing, this book is essential reading for anyone seeking a nuanced understanding of twentieth-century Chinese politics.

Chapter 1
Chapter I: The Last Years of Kuomintang Rule
Chapter 2 Introduction
Chapter 3 The Beginning of the End: Take-over from the Japanese
Chapter 4 The Student Anti-war Movement
Chapter 5 The Political Costs of Economic Mismanagement
Chapter 6 A Summary of the Indictment: The Intelligentsia's Critique of the Kuomintang
Chapter 7
Chapter II: The Communist Alternative
Chapter 8 The Intelligentsia's Critique of the Chinese Communists
Chapter 9 The Return to Land Reform
Chapter 10 The Return to the Cities
Chapter 11 A New Beginning: The Communist Take-over from the Kuomintang
Chapter 12 The Politics of Civil War

Twenty years after its original publication, Civil War in China remains the definitive work on the five-year conflict between the Guomindang and the Communist Party to win control of China. Pepper's painstakingly researched and well-balanced accounthas become the standard textbook for students of the civil war, political conflict, and state-building. Her analysis of the weaknesses that led the Nationalists to defeat and the strengths that propelled the Communists to power have stood the test of time and remains as relevant today as it was when originally published in 1978. A classic and a must for all serious scholars of revolution and political conflict. University of Pittsburghhh