China 1945: Mao's Revolution and America's Fateful Choice Hardcover – Deckle Edge, November 4, 2014

“If you read only one book on this crucial period, Mr. Bernstein’s work should be it.” 
—The Washington Times

“Excellent….Bernstein…covers China’s political context in 1945 like a scholar, but maintains his journalist’s eye for human drama.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Elegant and compelling….This thoughtful book moves decisively beyond sterile old debates to demonstrate that in the end, China’s fate in 1945 was for the Chinese people, and not Americans, to decide.”
—Foreign Affairs

“Skillfully crafted…Mr. Bernstein provides a rich account of just how far the Communist leaders went in wooing, and misleading, the Americans….This attention to the Chinese point of view sets Mr. Bernstein’s book apart from its most celebrated precursor, Barbara W. Tuchman’s 1971Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“Excellent….An important book.”
—The Washington Post

“Authoritative and engaging.”
—NPR

“Extensively researched….[Bernstein’s] findings about the limits of US influence in China are relevant to more recent American interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
—The Christian Science Monitor

“A fascinating, sometimes harrowing account of an uncertain period…pointedly relevant to today’s global dilemmas as well.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch

“A rich, compelling book told with subtlety and grace. For those interested in understanding how China went Communist in the middle of the 20th century, it is well worth the read.”
—David Sibley, Military History Quarterly

“Stimulating….A timely analysis that sheds light on the realities of American engagement in Asia.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Thoroughly researched and well-argued…highly recommended.”
—Library Journal

“Immensely readable….A nuanced hindsight assessment that expertly pursues the historical ramification of roads not taken.”
—Kirkus

“Cogent and engaging.”
—Booklist

“The current rivalry between the United States and China for the dominant role in East Asia is rooted in a complicated history dating back to 1945. Richard Bernstein’s compelling and moving examination of U.S.-China relations during and immediately after World War II sparkles with fresh insights into the tragic events and colorful personalities of that era. A model of historical writing for non-specialist readers, its only fault is that once begun it is almost impossible to put down.”
 
—Steven I. Levine, co-author of Mao: The Real Story

“The dramatic events of 1945 continue to shape American relations with China. Mao, Zhou Enlai, Stilwell, General George Marshall—these and other giant personalities come to life in these pages, as we relive the fateful choices events forced on them in a year of nonstop crises. The book offers a thoughtful examination of the roots of authoritarianism in China, the sources of Chinese-American mistrust, and the intractability of history.”
 
—Andrew J. Nathan, co-author of The Tiananmen Papers

“Richard Bernstein’s China 1945 is the rare book that under-promises on its title. The author goes far beyond delivering up that pivotal year, providing instead a learned and compelling narrative of the characters and forces that drove China and the United States apart and created today’s world.”

—Howard French, author of China’s Second Continent

“At the beginning of 1945, America had the chance to forge a good relationship with Mao and his Chinese communist rebels. Richard Bernstein’s fascinating and important tale of what happened provides crucial lessons about creative diplomacy that are still very relevant, both in dealing with China and around the world.”

—Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs

“Extensively researched, elegantly written, and provocatively argued, China 1945 reexamines a fateful period when Roosevelt’s wrong decisions combined with Stalin’s geostrategic ambitions and Mao’s ideological inclinations to seal the fate of the Cold War in Asia for a quarter century—with enduring consequences for Sino-American antagonisms to this day. An illuminating and sobering study well worth reading by all American policymakers and China watchers.”

—David Shambaugh, George Washington University & The Brookings Institution 

“At a time when the United States and China are groping for a 'new model' of great power relations, Richard Bernstein’s stimulating and informative book casts essential light on the era that led to today’s challenge. China 1945 makes us more aware than ever of the hideous complexities of American involvement in East Asia, the importance of history and the limited perspectives of those who make fateful choices.”

—Jerome A. Cohen, co-director, NYU’s US-Asia Law Institute; adjunct senior fellow for Asia, Council on Foreign Relations

“In this thoroughly researched and lucidly written book, Richard Bernstein describes a watershed moment of historical change: 1945, a year when the kaleidoscopic pattern of Chinese politics and that volatile country’s relationship with the U.S. and the world irrevocably changed. China 1945 is an enormously engaging narrative filled with a cast of colorful actors who set the terms of the game for the next half century.”
—Orville Schell, director, Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society

Richard Bernstein has been a reporter, culture critic, and commentator for more than thirty years. He was a foreign correspondent in Asia and Europe for Time magazine and The New York Times, and was the first Beijing bureau chief for Time. He is the author of many books on Chinese and Asian themes, among them The Coming Conflict with China and Ultimate Journey, the latter of which was a New York Times Best Book of the Year. He is also the author of Out of the Blue: A Narrative of September 11, 2001, which was named by The Boston Globe as one of the seven best books of 2002. He lives in New York.
 
richardbernstein.net

@R_Bernstein