LIBRARY NOTES
 
With the beautiful and powerful Madame Chiang Kai-shek at the center, this is the story of the founding of modern China, one of the great dramas of the twentieth century. The epic narrative begins with a revolution that swept away more than 2,000 years of monarchy, followed by World War II, and ending in the eventual loss to the Communists and exile in Taiwan. Madame Chiang's family included her remarkable parents, who broke tradition by educating her in America; her husband, the dogmatic warlord, her brother-in-law, China's George Washington, Sun Yat-sen, and her brother, a financial genius. Together, they were largely responsible for China's tranformation into a player on the world stage.
The book also reveals new aspects of U.S. Army General Joseph Stilwell; Claire Chennault, head of the Flying Tigers; Communist leaders Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai; murderous warlords; journalists Henry Luce, Theodore White, and Edgar Snow; and the unfortunate State Department officials who would be purged for predicting the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War.
As the representative of an Eastern ally in the West, Madame Chiang was befriended - before being rejected - by the Roosevelts, stayed in the White House for long periods during World War II, and charmed the U.S. Congress into giving China billions of dollars. Although she was dubbed the Dragon Lady in some quarters, she was an icon to her people and is certainly one of the most remarkable women of the twentieth century.
Hannah Pakula is a biographer. Her other books include
An Uncommon Woman (Women in History),
The Last Romantic: A Biography of Queen Marie of Roumania,
Queen of Roumania: The Life of Princess Marie, Grand-Daughter of Queen Victoria and
An Uncommon Woman: The Empress Frederick, and Victoria.
This event is part of the 2009-2010 Author Series, co-sponsored by the Library and WNET/Thirteen New York.
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