"Since 1950, Western military planners, journalists, and scholars have tried to determine the role of China
and the Soviet Union in the outbreak of the Korean conflict. Through the use of recently released Chinese documents,
conversations with People's Republic of China scholars, and in-depth interviews with people who were present at
key decision-making meetings, Chen Jian has been able to furnish answers to some of the most nagging questions."
--Choice
Submitted by Publisher, March, 2001
Summary
"Brings an exciting new dimension to our understanding of why China entered the Korean War. This highly
readable work challenges many basic assumptions about how Mao Zedong and his contemporaries saw world politics
and set Chinese foreign policy along a revolutionary path. It has important implications for understanding Sino-American
conflict not just in the early 1950s but throughout the Cold War era."
-- Michael Schaller
"Since 1950, Western military planners, journalists, and scholars have tried to determine the role of China
and the Soviet Union in the outbreak of the Korean conflict. Through the use of recently released Chinese documents,
conversations with People's Republic of China scholars, and in-depth interviews with people who were present at
key decision-making meetings, Chen Jian has been able to furnish answers to some of the most nagging questions."
