Books like Comrade Chiang Ch'ing by Roxane Witke

In war‑torn 1937 Shanghai, sisters Pearl and May Beware find their lives turned upside down when their father’s debts force them into marriage and migration to Los Angeles, where they confront love, identity, and the clash between old traditions and new freedoms.

Insightful memoir by former personal physician to Mao Zedong, detailing the Chinese leader’s daily life, political decisions, and personal quirks from 1954 to 1976.

No other narrative account of Abraham Lincolns life has inspired such widespread acclaim as Lord Charnwoods Abraham Lincoln: A Complete Biography. Lord Charnwood has given us the most complete interpretation of Lincoln as yet produced, and he has presented it in such artistic form that it may well become a classic. Many contemporary historians consider this thorough and superbly crafted work the quintessential biography of one of Americas greatest presidents. Charnwoods study of Lincoln's statesmanship introduced generations of Americans to the life and politics of Lincoln, and the authors observations are so comprehensive and well supported that any serious study of Lincoln must respond to his conclusions. Lord Charnwood, a British by birth, was a man of many affairs and much learning. He had training in historical research and his work exhibits evidences of industrious and careful investigation. He made close examination of American newspapers of the period covered, and has had access to original manuscript archives in the State and Navy departments at Washington. This is essential reading for anyone interested in Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, or American political history.

"Chiang Kai-shek was one of the most influential world figures of the twentieth century. The leader of the Kuomintang, the nationalist movement in China, by 1928 he had established himself as head of the government in Nanking. While he managed to survive the political storms of the 1930s, and although he was the only Chinese statesman of sufficient stature to attend the Cairo conference with Churchill and Roosevelt during World War II, Chiang's power was continually being undermined by the Japanese on one side and the Chinese Communists on the other. Once Japan met its unequivocal defeat in 1945, civil war again erupted in China, and four years later Mao Zedong claimed victory for the Communists." "Jonathan Fenby recreates pre-Communist China in all its color, danger, and complexity. Drawing extensively upon original Chinese sources and accounts by contemporaneous journalists, he explores little-known international connections in Chiang's story - like Madame Chiang Kai-shek's relationship with American presidential candidate Wendell Wilkie; the strategies of the American General "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell; like the collaboration of a highly uninformed American team with Mao and his Red Army - as he unfolds a story as fascinating in its conspiratorial intrigues as it is remarkable for its psychological insights."--BOOK JACKET.

When I finished reading-I felt my soul had been altered' Amy TanFor eight groundbreaking years, Xinran presented a radio programme in China during which she invited women to call in and talk about themselves. Broadcast every evening, Words on the Night Breeze became famous through the country for its unflinching portrayal of what it meant to be a woman in modern China. Centuries of obedience to their fathers, husbands and sons, followed by years of political turmoil had made women terrified of talking openly about their feelings. Xinran won their trust and, through her compassion and ability to listen, became the first woman to hear their true stories. This unforgettable book is the story of how Xinran negotiated the minefield of restrictions imposed on Chinese journalists to reach out to women across the country. Through the vivid intimacy of her writing, the women's voices confide in the reader, sharing their deepest secrets for the first time. Their stories changed Xinran's understanding of China forever. Her book will reveal the lives of Chinese women to the West as never before.