Customer Reviews

Washington's China: The National Security World, the Cold War, And the Origins of Globalism (Culture, Politics, and the Cold War)

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I am torn between giving this book a three or four star review. Peck's argument centers around how Washington saw the division between the Soviet Union and Communist China. However, I am not sure if Peck offers an argument. Instead, he tracks the US National Security Council perspectives on how China would emerge if it continued down its path of nationalism. He offers commentator and arguments from George Kennan, but Peck's analysis seems to come up short. That being said, the book reads well from a historical aspect. Readers who want to know the mindset of Washington as they watched the Soviet Union falter in keeping China under their imperialist thumb would find this book interesting; Peck hones on to the late 1940s-1960s. I think Peck stops short of not including a chapter on President Nixon's rapprochement with China; he ends with the Johnson administration. This would have better contributed to Peck's argument of China's origins of globalism (as stated in the title of the book). Overall, this book was worth the read, but I am hesitant on offering my recommendation as it left me wanting more.

College-level students of political science and foreign relations will find plenty of background history in WASHINGTON'S CHINA: THE NATIONAL SECURITY WORLD, THE COLD WAR, AND THE ORIGINS OF GLOBALISM. Why did the U.S. seek to isolate China from all political and economic ties to other nations? Was it more hostile to China than the Soviet Union? These and other questions about China's capabilities are especially meaningful today, as China emerges from its isolation to become a world force to be reckoned with.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch