The Last Empress: Madame Chiang Kai-shek and the Birth of Modern China - Hardcover

Pakula, Hannah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1439148937 ISBN 13: 9781439148938

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2009

Synopsis

With the beautiful and powerful Madame Chiang Kai-Shek at the center of one of the great dramas of the 20th century, the author of An Uncommon Woman offers the story of the founding of modern China, from the revolution that swept away the monarchy to the eventual loss to the communists and exile in Taiwan.

About this title

About the Author:

Hannah Pakula is the author of The Last Empress, which was a New York Times notable book, The Last Romantic, which was called by Graham Greene the best biography and one of the three best books of the year, and An Uncommon Woman, which was a Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist. She lives in New York City.

From Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review. Pakula, an experienced biographer of royal women (An Uncommon Woman: The Empress Frederick), looks at the imperious (if not imperial) wife of the Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, presenting a richly complex account of 20th-century China that, despite its length, remains thoroughly engrossing to the end. Born May-ling Soong (1897–2003) and educated in America, Madame Chiang and her five Soong siblings were wealthy, Christian, fluent in English and major players in Chinese politics. Marrying Chiang Kai-shek in 1927, the strong-minded and hot-tempered, shrewd and ruthless May-ling quickly became a partner in his efforts as Chinese leader until the Japanese invaded, and then in 1945 when Mao's Communists drove him to Formosa (modern-day Taiwan), which he ruled until his death in 1975. From the 1930s to 1950s, Americans idolized Madame Chiang as a symbol of Chinese resistance to the brutal Japanese and as an anticommunist stalwart. But critics of her and Chiang's ineffective, authoritarian, corrupt leadership soon became the majority. Pakula draws a vivid if often unflattering portrait of a charismatic Chinese patriot, her husband and family, in tumultuous and tragic times. 16 pages of b&w photos; maps. (Nov. 13)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1439148937
• ISBN 13: 9781439148938
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 816