The Man Who Lost China: The First Full Biography of Chiang Kai-shek [Hardcover]

Brian Crozier (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 430 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First edition (1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068414686X
• ISBN-13: 978-0684146867
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Man who lost China, February 24, 2010

By 

Ron Reynolds (NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Man Who Lost China: The First Full Biography of Chiang Kai-shek (Hardcover)

This is an excellent and well researched biography of Chiang Kai-Shek.
It provides insights to a man who in many ways remains an enigma, but this book brings the reader to a much closer understanding
of its subject and the politics and political culture that was and perhaps still exists in China.
The Princelings of today seem to have learnt much from their Elders. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in trying to develop an understanding of Past and Future China.

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A balanced look at the man who united China, December 26, 2003

By 

James A Bretney (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Man Who Lost China: The First Full Biography of Chiang Kai-shek (Hardcover)

If you believe the Chicom stooges, Chiang Kai Shek deserves to be villified. Crozier balances both KMT and CCP sources to get a balanced look at the man who attempted to bring the Sun Yat Sen's democracy to fruition. Crozier traces Chiang's life from his boyhood in Chekiang to his death on Formosa. Chiang was vain, surrounded himself with corrupt yes-men, but he did care about China and would have united it had not his American allies sold him out. No matter what your assessment of the KMT, you cannot deny that given the results of the Cultural Revolution, that Chiang is the lesser of the two evils.

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book !!, May 7, 2004

By 

Andrew C. LING (North York, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Man Who Lost China: The First Full Biography of Chiang Kai-shek (Hardcover)

A very good and in-depth look at one of the most contraversial men in Modern Chinese history.
Chiang was a typical Chinese of the past generation.
He was vicious, authoritarian, inflexible and narrow-minded. He had brought a lot of miseries and sufferings to China and the Chinese people. But I am inclined to believe that the Chinese people were partly to blame. Up until recently the ideas of democracy and equality never entered the China mind depite appreciation of Western ideas and philosophy. I understand that F.D. Roosevelt considered getting rid of him but the Chinese people could not have a leader replaced unless death or convulsive revolution took place.

I do give him credit for letting his son run the country in his later years without interfering. The younger Chiang worked hard in economic development and made Taiwan one of the tigers of South East Asia.

I would urge politicians of both China and Taiwan to read this book carefully so as to make China a true modern and democratic state.