Why Giacomo loves this book
The Wars for Asia is a masterpiece of historical analysis. It casts a new light on the history of World War II and, in the process, it reveals the enduring foundations of current political rivalries over the Eurasian landmass and the Pacific Ocean. The book demonstrates that what we usually refer to as World War II is the interlocking interaction of three different conflicts -- the Chinese Civil War, the regional war between China and Japan, and the global war pitting the US and its allies against the Axis powers. Each one of these conflicts had its own logic and dynamic. At the same time, none of these conflicts can be fully understood and explained if looked at in isolation, as is the case in usual historical accounts. That is why the Wars for Asia is so innovative: it shows the interconnections between and across these conflicts and how their…
2 authors picked The Wars for Asia, 1911-1949 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
The Wars for Asia, 1911-1949 shows that the Western treatment of World War II, the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War as separate events misrepresents their overlapping connections and causes. The Chinese Civil War precipitated a long regional war between China and Japan that went global in 1941 when the Chinese found themselves fighting a civil war within a regional war within an overarching global war. The global war that consumed Western attentions resulted from Japan's peripheral strategy to cut foreign aid to China by attacking Pearl Harbour and Western interests throughout the Pacific in 1941. S. C.…
