Tiananmen Diary: 13 Days in June [Hardcover]

Harrison E. Salisbury (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Arriving in Beijing on June 2, 1989 to film a historical documentary, veteran journalist Salisbury observed the terrible events of the Tiananmen Massacre over the next three days from the relative safety of the Beijing Hotel before leaving for the provinces and then hurrying home. The title of this book is misleading; Salisbury was only in Beijing for three of the 13 days his book covers. He relied on BBC and Voice of America broadcasts to learn what was happening a block and a half away, and this diary adds virtually nothing of interest to the contemporary news accounts. One could easily forgive so distinguished an author this bit of puff pastry did he not try to pass himself off as a great expert on China; however, it's apparent he doesn't know the language, and he makes numerous tell-tale errors of historical fact and reference. A disappointing book.
- Steven I. Levine, Duke Univ., Durham, N.C.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T); 1st edition (August 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316809047
• ISBN-13: 978-0316809047
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,459,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One Very Trite Book., August 4, 2001

By 

Michael J. Mcgrath (Madison, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tiananmen Diary: 13 Days in June (Hardcover)

Famous American "star" journalists are well known for their bland, conformist mindsets, and their bad writing. This book is just another badly written and incredibly trite "travel diary". Much of the book has Salisbury anachronistically hyping his own career, but even the accounts of 1989 fail as a human interest story. As history or journalism, the book is useless, as it gives no background or context, and darn little content.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad!, September 11, 2005

By 

Mark Nenadov "arm-chair reader" (Essex, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tiananmen Diary: 13 Days in June (Hardcover)

The reviews for this book seem to be either really good or really bad.

I found the book to be an enjoyable read. Yes, it defiantely is "light", and of course its not intended to be a comprehensive documentary. If one reads this book for what it is, the journal of a media individual on a very upheaved time in Chiense history, they will certainly not be disappointed.

Harrison writes briefly, with just the right amount of detail. After reading this, you will not know everything about the happenings in Tiananmen, but you will get a good partial view of it. And, yes, the author's writing style is not amazing, but it really is good enough for this sort of a book and it is very functional.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Did we read the same book?, October 5, 2000

By 

"moonlitegraham" (Austin, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tiananmen Diary: 13 Days in June (Hardcover)

This book was a fascinating read that really opened my eyes to what happened in 1989 during the Tianamen square massacre. I'm not sure the reader from new york and myself read the same book. Salsibury was in his hotel room during some of the events, but I don't blame him. With a totalitarian government's army on the loose against its citizenry, I'm not sure I could call his actions cowardly. This book is a must read for those of you uninformed on the horrific events that occured in this country that we Americans give "Most favored Nation" status. Happy hunting to find it, since its out of print.