The Raider: The Untold Story of a Renegade Marine and the Birth of U.S. Special Forces in World War II

by Stephen R. Platt

The extraordinary life of forgotten World War II hero Evans Carlson, commander of America’s first special forces, secret confidant of FDR, and one of the most controversial officers in the history of the Marine Corps, who dedicated his life to bridging the cultural divide between the United States and China

“He was a gutsy old man.” “A corker,” said another. “You couldn’t find anyone better.” They talked about him in hushed tones. “This Major Carlson,” wrote one of the officers in a letter home, “is one of the finest men I have ever known.”

These were the words of the young Marines training to be among the first U.S. troops to enter the Second World War—and the Major Carlson they spoke of was Evans Carlson, a man of mythical status even before the war that would make him a military legend. By December of 1941, at the age of 45, Carlson had already faced off against Sandinistas in the jungles of Nicaragua and served multiple tours in China, where he embedded with Mao’s communist forces during the Sino-Japanese War and learned their guerrilla tactics. These were the tactics he would import to the Pacific Theater in 1942 with his renowned Marine Raiders, the progenitors of America’s special operations forces, who fought behind Japanese lines on Guadalcanal with the collaborative spirit of “gung ho”—a phrase Carlson introduced to the English language.

In The Raider, Cundill Prize–winning historian Stephen R. Platt gives us the first authoritative account of Carlson’s larger-than-life exploits: the real story, based on years of research including newly discovered diaries and correspondence in English and Chinese, with deep insight into the conflicted idealism about the Chinese communists that would prove Carlson’s undoing in the McCarthy era. It is a propulsive, dramatic tale revealing the origins of the tensions between China and the US that endure to this day.

Tracing the rise and fall of an unlikely American war hero, The Raider is a story of exploration, of cultural (mis)understanding, and of one man’s awakening to the sheer breadth of the world.

Genres: History, Biography, Military History, Nonfiction, World War II, China, War

544 pages, Hardcover

First published May 13, 2025

About the author

Stephen R. Platt is an award-winning historian of China and the West whose newest book is The Raider (Knopf, 2025). His previous books include Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom (Knopf, 2012), which won the Cundill History Prize, and Imperial Twilight (Knopf, 2018), which was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize. He teaches at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and holds a PhD in History from Yale. He lives with his family in Northampton, MA.

Reviews

[Marshall Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is excellent, but the subtitle is pure hyperbole. Carlson’s story and the history of the 2nd Marine Raiders are extremely well known to historians - this is at least the third published biography of Carlson and there in another book on the Makin raid. Carlson was also a well known figure in his time and this China and Raider exploits were extensively covered in the press. Nevertheless, I learned much about his China trips and his relationships with the Roosevelt family.

[Dawn Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of Evans Carlson before this book; what a complex, complicated, dedicated man he was.

An absolute real war hero [his service at Guadalcanal alone was mind-blowing], Mr. Carlson also came with a crapton of baggage [multiple wives, who he had a tendency to abandon, a firm believer in how China fought its wars and strove to emulate the very same ideals, and a true love of China and it's people for starters], but also truly loved his country, loved SERVING his country, strove to give his men the best fighting advantage he could [and taught them all he knew] and he absolutely did not deserve to be treated the way he was, both over the course of the war [he was one of the first ones to warn his betters about the dangers of Japan and how the US needed to stop arming them and was very much ignored; bet some of those same people thought about him differently after Pearl Harbor, but I digress...], and afterwards [the whole section about his funeral was so heartbreaking] to the point that he has been largely forgotten is nothing short of, IMO, criminal.

Expertly written and researched, the author tells this story fairly well [there are several side jaunts that were just confusing and IMO, not needed] and I enjoyed learning more about China, the War, and this very complex man.

Thank you to NetGalley, Stephen R. Platt, and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor/Knopf for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Reed Bonadonna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evans Carlson enjoys a somewhat mixed reputation in military circles; this new book by historian and China scholar Stephen Platt does much to set the record straight. Like Barbara Tuchman's biography of Joseph Stilwell, Platt's book offers insights into the divided China of the 20s, 30s, and 40s. There are leadership lessons here as well. Carlson was insightful, inspiring, idealistic, and faultlessly brave. He could also be naïve and over-confident. In all, he was a great American fighting man whose story has much to teach us, and Professor Platt tells it well.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant biography of a fascinating and polarizing figure within the history of the Marine Corps, U.S. Special Operations, and the American relationship in China. Evans Carlson was simultaneously both a naïve and brilliant figure and this biography excellently captures both parts of that dichotomy.

[Steven Z. · Rating 5 out of 5]

There have been many exceptional people throughout history. People who emit bravery, compassion, and genius whose impact on others is immeasurable. Many of these people have been somewhat anonymous historically. One such person was Major Evans Carleson the subject of Stephen R. Platt’s new book; THE RAIDER: THE UNTOLD STORY OF A RENEGADE MARINE AND THE BIRTH OF U.S. SPECIAL FORCES IN WORLD WAR II.

As the book title suggests Major Carleson made many important contributions as to how the American military conducts itself. A career that spanned fighting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and the Japanese in China, the Makin Islands, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan saw him implement combat tactics that he observed and studied while watching the Chinese Communists engage Japanese forces in the 1930s. The type of fighting is framed as “guerilla warfare,” which would be developed by Carson’s battalion that would be the precursor of US Special Forces known as “the Marine Raiders.”

According to Platt, Major Evans Carleson may be the most famous figure from World War II that no one has ever heard of. He was a genuine hero whose life was full of contradictions, and he would wind up disowned by his service, pilloried as a suspected radical, and forgotten in the postwar era. Platt makes a number of astute observations, perhaps the most important being Carleson’s repeated warnings not to allow the wartime alliances in China to collapse. Today, US-Chinese relations are in part hindered by events at the end of World War II – something Carleson saw coming.

After reviewing Carleson’s early life and career Platt places his subject in China for the first time in 1927 where he would carry out his lifelong ambition to make a difference in that theater. Carleson would spend the next fifteen years observing the Communist Chinese, promoting democracy, fighting the Japanese, developing a philosophy of warfare which rested on a non-egalitarian approach to training men and leading them in combat. Carleson was a complex individual, and like many people he had his flaws as well as his strengths. On a personal level he had difficulties devoting himself to family life and was happier away from his wives and son, than trying to work on his familial relationships. On a professional level he was an excellent leader of men as his approach was to have the same experience as his men in the field which led to success on the battlefield.

It is obvious from the narrative that Platt has a firm command of his subject. He successfully integrates the flow of Chinese history from the late 1920s through the Second World War and the immediate post war era. Platt’s commentary and analysis dealing with Chinese Communists and Kuomintang relations, Chiang Kai-Shek’s authoritarian leadership, the strategies pursued by the Japanese and the United States are well founded and based on intensive research. This allows the reader to gain a clear picture of what Carleson faced at any given time from the “Warlord Era” in China in the late 1920s, his meetings with Communist officials, particularly Zhu De whose combat strategies became the model for what Carleson created with his Marine Raiders, and events on the ground, and other important personalities he interacted with.

Platt is accurate in his comments pertaining to the balance of power in China. He introduces the Soviet threat in the region as Joseph Stalin supplied Chiang Kai-Shek’s forces throughout the 1930s, reigning in the Chinese Communists as he wanted to develop a buffer to thwart any Japanese incursions on Russian territory. The Soviet Union financed the reign of Sun Yat-Sen and continued to do so with Chiang Kai-Shek. Stalin also forced the Communists to work with the Kuomintang and create a “United Front’ against the Japanese, a strategy that Carleson supported. Carleson’s influence on American policy toward China and Japan was enhanced because of the special relationship he developed with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his son James who was his executive officer and helped create the “Marine Raiders.” A case in point is when Carleson finally learned that the US was supplying oil, weapons, and other resources to Japan to use in China, he helped convince FDR to embargo these items.

In examining Carleson’s approach to the Sino-Japanese war after he was appointed to be China’s Marine 1st Regimental intelligence officer in 1927, Platt correctly points out that many of his views were formulated because of his closeness to Chiang Kai-Shek, a man he admired despite his authoritarian rule. Since he was getting his information from one source he seemed to follow the Kuomintang line. This will change as he is permitted to imbed himself with Communists forces fighting Japan and his “special relationship” with Zhu De who commanded Chinese Communist forces.

Platt will spend an inordinate amount of time tracing his subjects ideological development and personality traits. He stresses Carleson’s need to improve. After reading Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ideas as a young man, he becomes a convert to the concept of “self-reliance,” which he intermingled with the concept of “Gung Ho,” or working together which he learned from Zhu De. He pursued a lifetime goal of educating himself and he always seemed to crave a literary career. An important source that Platt makes great use of are Carleson’s letters to his parents where he relates his beliefs concerning the China theater and his own command career which allows him to develop analysis of his subject and the world with which he was involved.

Carleson developed many important relationships during his time in China. Obviously, Zhu De was seen as a model for conducting war against the Japanese, but others like Edgar Snow greatly impacted Carleson. Snow also had access to Chinese Communists leaders and wrote RED STAR OVER CHINA and including in part using Carleson’s intelligence work that the Chinese Communists were not like they had been described in the media. He argued they were friendly, not hostile and open to democracy in the short run, but we know that was Mao Zedong’s strategy before the socialist revolution would emerge. Snow argued that they were well organized, open to an alliance with the United States, and most importantly were not in the pocket of the Soviet Union. Carleson and Snow developed an important relationship intellectually and personally and Carleson agreed with most of Snow’s conclusions.

Platt is a master of detail and is reflected in what Carleson experienced meeting Mao and observing Chinese Communist military strategies. If you explore Zhu De’s approach to training his forces, which he argued were at least as psychological and moral as it was physical, we can see how Carleson mirrored that approach. Apart from Mao and Zhu De, Platt introduces a number of different characters that impacted Carleson’ s life. One in particular is fascinating and had influence over Carleson – Agnes Smedley. Smedley was a left leaning journalist who developed a strong relationship with Carleson, in fact they fell in love with each other, but according to Platt they were never lovers.

Carleson was exposed to Japanese military tactics in China and developed ideas as to why Japan could never be totally successful. They had the antithesis of military structure from that of Carleson. He believed the Japanese would fail because of their hierarchical military structure and were extremely vulnerable to surprise attacks and unexpected situations. He further believed that Japanese were not well trained or allowed to think and act on their own. They were more robotic in their approach when compared to Zhu De. Carleson’s positive views on Zhu De would be openly mocked by higher ups, but no matter what was said he continued to speak his mind in interviews, written articles, and reports to FDR and other officials. He would be admonished and warned not to publicize his opinions, but he never wavered by imparting his views no matter what others thought, i.e., he blamed the catastrophe of Pearl Harbor on America’s privileged officer class who lacked incentives to innovate and improve. He argued “they were fearful of any experimentation that might threaten their appearance of infallibility or diminish their prestige.” In the end his superiors had enough of his popularity, refusal to fit in, blurring the boundaries between officers and enlisted men, and idealistic politics promoting him as a means of taking his “Raiders” command away and giving it to a more conventional officer.

Platt delves into the training of the “Marine Raiders,” and the plans for different operations. The results were mixed as the landing on Makin Island, a diversion the US sought to keep supply lines open to Australia which was not a success, while the amphibious landing at Guadalcanal was seen as a victory over Japan as 488 Japanese soldiers were killed as opposed to 16 Americans – eventually the Japanese withdrew from the island. Part of Carleson’s success resides in the area of post-traumatic stress syndrome. It seems that Carleson’s raiders did not suffer from mental issues related to combat as did others. Platt points out that one-third to one-half of all US casualties were sent home because of mental trauma, while the “Marine Raiders” only had one person sent home.
Platt has not written a hagiography of Carleson as he points out his warts. One in particular is interesting is that he would not take Japanese prisoners of war, he instructed his men to shoot them because they had no way to imprison or care for them but also revenge for what they did to Americans. On a personal level he basically abandoned his wives and his only son for his career and was seen as somewhat inflexible in dealing with higher ups in the military chain of command. Many above him felt he had become a communist because of his association with Zhu De, Agnes Smedley, and his criticisms of Chiang Kai-Shek which would follow him for the remainder of his life as his reputation was destroyed during the McCarthy era as J. Edgar Hoover kept a file on him for years.

If there are other biographies to compare Platt’s work to it would be Barbara Tuchman’s STILWELL AND THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN CHINA , 1911-1945 and Neil Sheehan’s BRIGHT SHINING LIE: JOHN PAUL VANN AND AMERICA IN VIETNAM. One book provides similar reasons to Platt as to why the “United States lost China” after World War II and examines very carefully Washington’s approach to the Chinese Civil War which ended in 1949, the other tells a familiar story why the Vietnam War was such a fiasco. Platt’s work is based on strong research as he was the first historian to receive access to Carleson’s family letters, correspondence, and private journals, allowing him to develop complex personality and belief systems alongside the dramatic events of his life. The result of Platt’s efforts according to Publisher’s Weekly “is a gripping, complex study of a military romantic who mixed ruthlessness with idealism.”

Alexander Rose’s review; “The Raider” Review: Evans Carleson Made the Marines Gung Ho, June 6, 2025, Wall Street Journal is dead on when he writes; “Hence Mr. Platt’s superficially disproportionate focus on Carlson and his activities in China before Pearl Harbor and the formation of the Raiders—which was really a capstone to his long fascination and relationships with the Chinese Communists and Nationalists. By the late 1930s, Carlson was regarded as the China expert at home. His reports were circulated at the cabinet level and within the most senior ranks of the Navy department; he even enjoyed a secret, direct line of communication with President Roosevelt.
Yet in some quarters there were concerns that Carlson had, to use a perhaps dated expression, gone native. He had developed a severe case of Good Cause-itis and needed to be reminded, as one analyst commented at the time, that he worked for “Uncle Samuel, not China, the Soong Dynasty, or”—referring to one of the Chinese Communist party’s forces fighting against Japan—“the 8th Route Army.”

These suspicions were not baseless. If Carlson had a weakness, it was that he associated with too many American fellow travelers and idealized the Communists, seeing them as nothing more than slightly zealous New Dealers. He told Roosevelt that Mao had assured him that agrarian revolution, one-party rule and proletarian dictatorship might be on the agenda, but only after a prolonged period of capitalist democracy to guarantee everyone’s individual freedoms.

Similarly, Carlson promoted the astoundingly corrupt Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek and seems to have believed that they and the Communists would make a great team to secure China’s independence, once they ironed out a few inconsequential political differences. It was in 1944 that he finally tired of Chiang and wrote him off as a reactionary warlord. The Communist Party was the sole executor of the “welfare of the people,” he judged, and thus America’s natural friend.
One gets the impression from his reports that Carlson was often told what he wanted to hear and saw what his hosts wanted him to see. He never grasped that the insurgents’ interests rarely matched American ones, even when the two forces were temporarily allied against a common enemy. Carlson, in other words, broke the cardinal rule of being an observer: Don’t fall in love with the side you’re backing; they’re fighting a different war than you are.

For a time, Carlson’s views held sway in the U.S.—he was a popular, progressive figure immediately after the war and was set to run for the U.S. Senate representing California—but his career soon began to go wrong. A heart attack ended his political ambitions, and in his final years he was castigated as a “red in the bed.” He died a disappointed man, as his illusions shattered against the hard rocks of reality. But American understandings of China have often been founded, or have foundered, on self-deception, both before Carlson’s time, and since.”

[Jordison Francisco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ao longo da história, várias personalidades de destaque deixaram marcas profundas através de sua coragem, compaixão e inteligência, influenciando gerações e mudando o curso dos acontecimentos. Muitos desses indivíduos permaneceram relativamente desconhecidos ao longo do tempo. Um exemplo é Major Evans Carleson, figura central na obra de Stephen R. Platt intitulada The Raider: The Untold Story of a Renegade Marine and the Birth of U.S. Special Forces in World War II.

Como sugere o título do livro, Carleson desempenhou um papel fundamental na evolução das táticas militares americanas. Sua trajetória inclui combates contra os sandinistas na Nicarágua, os japoneses na China, além de participações nas campanhas das Ilhas Makin, Guadalcanal, Tarawa e Saipan. Nesse percurso, ele aplicou estratégias de combate que aprendeu ao observar a luta dos comunistas chineses contra os japoneses nos anos 1930. Essas táticas, classificadas como “guerra de guerrilha”, foram a base para a formação dos Marine Raiders, uma unidade pioneira que daria origem às forças especiais dos Estados Unidos.

Segundo Platt, Major Evans Carleson pode ser considerado uma das figuras mais conhecidas de WWII que, paradoxalmente, permanece praticamente desconhecida pelo público em geral. Um herói de vida repleta de contradições, ele foi posteriormente desacreditado pelo seu próprio serviço, rotulado como radical e, após a guerra, acabou sendo esquecido. Platt destaca, sobretudo, as advertências constantes de Carleson sobre a importância de manter as alianças na China durante o conflito, uma visão que se revelou acertada, dado que as relações entre EUA e China ainda enfrentam obstáculos derivados do final da Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Ao abordar a juventude e a carreira de Carleson, Platt relata seu primeiro contato com a China em 1927, momento em que passou a dedicar-se intensamente à região, alimentando seu sonho de fazer a diferença. Durante os quinze anos seguintes, ele estudou os comunistas chineses, apoiou a democracia, combateu os japoneses e desenvolveu uma filosofia de guerra que privilegiava um treinamento não uniforme, voltado a liderar homens em combate de forma eficaz. Carleson era um indivíduo complexo, com suas virtudes e defeitos. Sua vida pessoal refletia dificuldades em dedicar-se à família, preferindo muitas vezes estar longe de sua esposa e filho. Como comandante, demonstrou excelente habilidade em liderar, adotando uma abordagem de liderança que o colocava ao lado de seus homens, vivendo as mesmas experiências que eles no campo de batalha.

A obra de Platt revela um domínio profundo do tema. O autor consegue integrar a história da China desde o final dos anos 1920 até o pós-guerra, oferecendo uma análise fundamentada das relações entre comunistas e nacionalistas, do autoritarismo de Chiang Kai-Shek, das estratégias japonesas e americanas. Sua pesquisa detalhada permite ao leitor compreender os desafios enfrentados por Carleson em diferentes momentos, desde a era dos senhores da guerra até suas reuniões com figuras como Zhu De, cujas táticas militares influenciaram diretamente a criação dos Marine Raiders, e outros personagens relevantes com quem ele interagiu.

Platt também acerta ao discutir o equilíbrio de forças na China, incluindo a ameaça soviética. Stalin, na década de 1930, apoiou Chiang Kai-Shek com recursos militares e financeiros, buscando estabelecer um buffer contra possíveis invasões japonesas na Rússia. O autor explica como a União Soviética financiou tanto Sun Yat-Sen quanto Chiang, além de forçar os comunistas a colaborarem com o Kuomintang na formação de uma “Frente Unida” contra os japoneses, estratégia que Carleson apoiava firmemente. Sua relação próxima com Roosevelt e seu filho James, que atuou como seu oficial executivo na criação dos Marine Raiders, aumentou sua influência na formulação de políticas americanas na Ásia. Um exemplo dessa influência foi quando, ao descobrir que os EUA estavam fornecendo petróleo e armas ao Japão para serem utilizados na China, Carleson convenceu FDR a impor um embargo a esses recursos.

Quanto à abordagem de Carleson na guerra sino-japonesa, especialmente após sua nomeação como oficial de inteligência do 1º Regimento de infantaria chinesa em 1927, Platt observa que muitas de suas opiniões foram moldadas por sua proximidade com Chiang Kai-Shek, a quem admirava, apesar de seu governo autoritário. Inicialmente, suas informações e posições refletiam a linha do Kuomintang, mas esse panorama evoluiria quando ele fosse autorizado a se infiltrar nas forças comunistas que lutavam contra os japoneses, fortalecendo seu relacionamento com Zhu De, comandante das forças comunistas na China.

Platt dedica grande atenção à análise da evolução da perspectiva ideológica e da personalidade de Carleson. Ele enfatiza a necessidade constante de Carleson de se aprimorar. Inspirado em sua juventude pelos ensinamentos de Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carleson abraçou a filosofia da “autossuficiência”, que mais tarde combinou com o espírito do “Gung Ho” — um conceito de esforço coletivo que adotou de Zhu De. Ao longo de sua vida, Carleson buscou expandir seu conhecimento e pareceu nutrir um profundo desejo por uma vocação literária. Um recurso fundamental utilizado por Platt são as cartas de Carleson para seus pais, nas quais ele compartilha suas perspectivas sobre o teatro chinês e suas experiências de liderança, oferecendo valiosas informações sobre sua visão de mundo e o contexto mais amplo de seu ambiente.

Durante sua estadia na China, Carleson cultivou relacionamentos significativos com figuras influentes. Zhu De era considerado um porta-estandarte na luta contra as forças japonesas, mas Carleson também foi significativamente influenciado por outros, como Edgar Snow. Snow teve acesso a líderes comunistas chineses e escreveu "Estrela Vermelha Sobre a China", obra na qual se baseou em parte na inteligência de Carleson para contestar as representações predominantes dos comunistas na mídia. Snow os descreveu como acessíveis e abertos à democracia a curto prazo, alinhando-se à estratégia inicial de Mao Tsé-Tung antes da consolidação da revolução socialista. Ele acreditava que os comunistas eram bem organizados, potencialmente aliados dos EUA e não estavam sob controle soviético. Carleson e Snow desenvolveram uma estreita relação intelectual e pessoal, com Carleson concordando em grande parte com as conclusões de Snow.

O domínio de Platt sobre os detalhes transparece nas descrições dos encontros de Carleson com Mao e em suas observações sobre as táticas militares comunistas chinesas. A abordagem de Zhu De para o treinamento enfatizava a força psicológica e moral, além do preparo físico, uma filosofia que Carleson claramente refletiu em suas próprias observações. Além de Mao e Zhu De, Platt apresenta outras figuras influentes, notadamente Agnes Smedley. Jornalista de esquerda, Smedley desenvolveu uma profunda ligação com Carleson — a ponto de se apaixonarem —, mas, como observa Platt, nunca chegaram a ser amantes.

A experiência de Carleson com os métodos militares japoneses o levou a formar opiniões críticas sobre as perspectivas de sucesso do Japão. Ele acreditava que a rígida estrutura hierárquica do país os tornava vulneráveis ​​a ataques surpresa e desafios adaptativos. Argumentava que os soldados japoneses não possuíam o treinamento e a independência necessários para responder eficazmente a situações inesperadas, operando mais como autômatos em comparação com as forças de Zhu De. Apesar das rejeições oficiais e do escárnio de oficiais de alta patente, Carleson manteve-se franco. Criticou abertamente seus superiores em entrevistas, artigos e relatórios para o presidente Franklin D. Roosevelt e outras autoridades. Sua franqueza frequentemente lhe rendia repreensões e advertências contra a expressão pública de opiniões pessoais. Não obstante, persistiu em expressar suas crenças, como a de culpar a classe de oficiais americanos pela devastação de Pearl Harbor, que ele considerava complacente e resistente à inovação devido ao desejo de preservar seu prestígio. Em última análise, sua postura heterodoxa e a recusa em se conformar levaram a tensões com as autoridades militares, que viam sua popularidade, independência e opiniões políticas como uma ameaça. Seus esforços para desafiar a liderança convencional resultaram em seu afastamento, com planos para substituir seu comando dos "Invasores" por um oficial mais tradicional.

Platt explora o treinamento e os planos operacionais dos Invasores da Marinha, observando resultados mistos. O ataque à Ilha Makin, destinado a desviar a atenção japonesa e manter as rotas de suprimento para a Austrália, foi em grande parte malsucedido. Por outro lado, o ataque anfíbio a Guadalcanal foi considerado uma vitória estratégica, com baixas japonesas significativamente maiores e a eventual retirada do Japão. Um aspecto notável do sucesso de Carleson foi sua aparente resiliência contra problemas de saúde mental relacionados ao combate; ao contrário de muitos soldados que sofriam de TEPT (Transtorno de Estresse Pós-Traumático) — em que até metade das baixas eram evacuadas devido ao trauma —, seus Invasores demonstraram notável estabilidade mental, com apenas um indivíduo enviado para casa por razões psicológicas.

A biografia de Platt não é uma hagiografia; ele examina criticamente as falhas de Carleson. Um ponto controverso é a recusa de Carleson em fazer prisioneiros japoneses, instruindo seus homens a atirar nos soldados capturados, alegando a impossibilidade de manter prisioneiros e buscando vingança pelas baixas americanas. Em nível pessoal, a dedicação de Carleson à sua carreira veio à custa de sua vida familiar — ele praticamente abandonou suas esposas e seu único filho — e era visto como um tanto inflexível e distante em suas relações com as autoridades militares superiores. Muitos oficiais superiores suspeitavam que ele simpatizava com o comunismo devido às suas associações com Zhu De, Agnes Smedley e suas críticas contundentes a Chiang Kai-shek. Essas suspeitas o acompanharam até a era McCarthy, durante a qual J. Edgar Hoover manteve dossiês sobre ele, manchando sua reputação.

Para uma perspectiva comparativa, a biografia de Platt pode ser contrastada com obras como Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911–1945, de Barbara Tuchman, e a Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, de Neil Sheehan. O livro de Tuchman discute por que os EUA perderam a China após a Segunda Guerra Mundial, examinando as políticas de Washington durante a Guerra Civil Chinesa, enquanto a obra de Sheehan analisa os fracassos da Guerra do Vietnã. A pesquisa de Platt é robusta; ele foi o primeiro historiador a ter acesso à correspondência familiar, aos diários particulares e às cartas de Carleson, o que lhe permitiu construir um retrato matizado da personalidade complexa e das crenças de Carleson em meio a convulsões históricas. Segundo a Publishers Weekly, a biografia de Platt oferece “um relato fascinante e intrincado de um militar romântico que combinava crueldade com idealismo”, capturando as contradições e a profundidade do caráter de Carleson.

Análise de Alexander Rose; Revisão de “The Raider”: Evans Carleson e a Influência Militar dos EUA na China, 6 de junho de 2025, Wall Street Journal

Ao comentar sobre a trajetória de Carlson, Evans Carleson destaca que a atenção excessiva de Platt na atuação de Carlson na China antes do ataque a Pearl Harbor, e a formação dos Raiders, reflete uma visão superficial da sua relação com os comunistas e nacionalistas chineses. Desde o final dos anos 1930, Carlson era considerado o principal especialista americano na China, com seus relatórios circulando no mais alto nível do governo e da Marinha, inclusive com uma linha direta secreta com o presidente Roosevelt.

No entanto, havia receios de que Carlson estivesse se deixando influenciar demais pelos ideais comunistas, ou, como dizia-se na época, “ter se convertido à causa”. Alguns analistas acreditavam que ele tinha uma forte tendência a idealizar os comunistas, vendo neles apenas reformistas radicais à moda dos Novos Atores. Carlson chegou a afirmar que Mao Zedong lhe garantira que a revolução agrária, o regime de partido único e a ditadura proletária poderiam ser implementados, mas somente após um período de democracia capitalista que asseguraria as liberdades individuais.

Além disso, Carlson apoiava os nacionalistas de Chiang Kai-shek, apesar de sua corrupção e autoritarismo, acreditando que uma união entre eles e os comunistas poderia, no futuro, garantir a independência da China, uma vez que diferenças políticas menores fossem resolvidas. Foi só em 1944 que ele passou a considerar Chiang como um mero guerreiro reacionário, descartando-o como aliado confiável. Para Carlson, o Partido Comunista era o verdadeiro defensor do bem-estar popular, tornando-se, assim, o parceiro natural dos EUA na região.

Porém, seus relatórios sugerem que Carlson muitas vezes foi orientado a enxergar o que seus interlocutores desejavam que ele visse. Ele não compreendeu que os interesses dos insurgentes raramente coincidiam com os americanos, mesmo quando seus objetivos momentaneamente se alinhavam contra um inimigo comum. Em essência, Carlson violou uma regra fundamental do observador: não se apaixonar pelo lado que apoia, pois eles lutam uma guerra diferente da sua.

Durante algum tempo, suas opiniões tiveram grande influência nos Estados Unidos. Após a guerra, era considerado uma figura progressista e popular, chegando a concorrer ao Senado pelo estado da Califórnia. Contudo, sua carreira começou a declinar após sofrer um ataque cardíaco, que interrompeu seus planos políticos. Nos seus últimos anos, foi condenado por alguns como um “vermelho na cama”. Sua morte foi marcada por decepção, pois suas ilusões se desfizeram frente à dura realidade. Ainda hoje, a compreensão americana sobre a China permanece marcada por equívocos e autoengano, uma tradição que persiste desde antes de Carlson e continua até os dias atuais.

[X-Ray Xu · Rating 5 out of 5]

冷战时被清洗的历史

延安革命精神还是很有感召力的，当时都传播到了美国，形成了一个流行词Gung-ho，是工合(工业合作社)的音译，斗志昂扬、齐心协力、干劲十足、不怕远征难的意思。

除了革命精神，八路军游击战术也传播到了美国。美国受此启发组建了第一只特种部队，海军陆战队突袭队the Marine Raider，训练和战斗喊的口号都是Gung-ho。海军陆战队在太平洋的第一场战斗就是突袭队打的，事迹大肆宣传，还被拍成电影叫《Gung-ho》，类似黄继光董存瑞的故事，以此来鼓舞美国人的士气。

The Qing government liked Anson Burlingame so much that in 1867, after America’s and China’s respective civil wars were finished, they hired him to be part of China’s first diplomatic mission to the United States. In Washington, he negotiated a treaty on behalf of the Qing emperor that allowed for free migration of Chinese to America, and Americans to China. Championed by American business interests, the Burlingame Treaty, as it was known, brought a flood of cheap labor to the American West—where the transcontinental railroad was built largely by Chinese workers—as well as to the South, where poorly paid Chinese took the place of emancipated slaves. In the other direction, the treaty unleashed a wave of American Protestant missionaries to China. They were protected by China’s government thanks to the treaty, but deeply unwelcome to most of the Chinese themselves.


Titillated Westerners liked to call Shanghai “The Whore of the East.” A foreign missionary in the 1920s spoke for many of his brethren when he said that if God didn’t destroy Shanghai then he would owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology. 现实版Vice City


As one Japanese official put it in the 1880s, Japan could either take its seat at the table in the grand feast of imperialism, or it could be served up as the main course. One of the first steps in Japan’s expansion was a war with China in 1894–1895 in which, after soundly defeating China’s poorly coordinated navy, Japan took control of Taiwan as its first major colony.

The tipping point was the Great Depression, which devastated Japan’s export economy and bolstered factions within the country that wanted more aggressive expansion and—for the sake of protecting Japanese trade—to carve out a larger piece of the world that would be Japan’s alone.

Already divisive political caste in Tokyo frayed to tatters. Japanese politicians who sought to uphold international norms were sidelined by protests or in some cases assassinated, bringing far-right figures to power in their places. 肉体上消灭了异议

Carlson first learned about “dollar diplomacy” and the ways in which America’s foreign policy in the early twentieth century mainly sought to create conditions abroad that would benefit American business interests, just as Smedley Butler had argued. It was a disorienting perspective that deflated some of Carlson’s pride in the work he had done in Nicaragua. “I was shocked by what I learned of our intervention in foreign nations,” he later told an interviewer when reflecting on his studies at George Washington University. “I suppose I had taken too much for granted about our American idealism.” 资本家和资本主义国家都是人格化的资本

Carlson and Deng talked about the usual things—the progress of the United Front, the status of the war in China, the international situation—but what unsettled Carlson was something Deng told him in passing, which he didn’t at first believe: namely, that most of the war materials that Japan had imported in the past year had come from the United States. in 1937, the first year of the Sino-Japanese War, resource-poor Japan had obtained three-quarters of its petroleum oil—including nearly all of its high-octane aviation fuel—from American exporters. American businessmen had sold Japan more than half of its imports of munitions and munition supplies, and a vast amount of metalworking machinery. More than a third of the steel used to build the tanks, warships, bombs, and artillery shells that Japan had unleashed on China had been produced using raw materials from the United States. And at the time Carlson met Deng Xiaoping, the trade was continuing to grow. As an American economist would argue in Harper’s Magazine that summer, “The Japanese menace is made possible by American exports.” Even as Carlson had been traveling through North China assuring his audiences that the American people supported them and sympathized with their plight, back home certain of his countrymen were making their fortunes by selling Japan the very means of China’s destruction. 日本二战前期的原材料是美国人卖给日本的

FDR's Delano ancestors had sailed regularly to Canton as merchants in the old China trade of the early nineteenth century, back before the first Opium War (and though it didn’t come up in the dinner conversation, FDR’s original family fortune had depended to no small degree on the sale of that drug in China). FDR祖上是卖倒卖鸦片的，想起了棉花帝国

That old, enduring mystery from his Emerson-infused childhood—to find his intended path in life, to unlock the secret of his true purpose—was, it seemed, finally starting to reveal its contours. 很有荣格的感觉

卢沟桥英文是Marco Polo Bridge

If God meant for him to die, Carlson believed, it would happen no matter what he did to avoid it. By the same token, if he was not meant to die then there was no reason to be afraid. As he later put it, “When my time comes there is nothing I can do about it. No point in dodging, for there is as much chance of dodging into [a bullet] as away from it.”

Edgar Snow wasn’t a disinterested writer. He had a career to pursue, and he wanted a book that would be suitably dramatic and pathbreaking; in a letter to Ambassador Johnson he described Red Star as “a world scoop on a nine-year-old story.” But he left it up to the reader to decide whether the blood on Zhu De’s hands was that of a surgeon or an executioner.

He told Agnes that Zhu De was only the second actual, practicing Christian he had ever known in his life, after his own father the minister. When she laughed at the thought of Zhu De being a Christian, he said that it wasn’t the “hymn-singing, grace-saying Christians” he was talking about. What he meant was that Zhu De was only the second man he had ever known who truly put Jesus Christ’s teachings to work in his life, even if he didn’t know the first thing about Jesus himself. Zhu De worked for the poor and oppressed, said Carlson. He practiced brotherly love without “grabbing as much as possible for himself.” It was an opinion he would hold on to. China’s “so-called communists,” as Carlson began to think of them, were in reality Christian democrats without knowing it. Wampler told Zhou, “Jesus was a social activist. Therefore, he is also a socialist, and so he is a comrade of yours.” In other words, morally speaking the Christians and Communists in China were on the same side—which was something Carlson, from a different perspective, was already in the process of concluding for himself (though in his case, unlike Wampler, it was because he doubted that Jesus was actually divine, and likewise doubted that the Chinese Communists were actually communist

[Joseph DeVona · Rating 5 out of 5]

My hat is off to Stephen Platt, and my gratitude is immense for Evans Carlson. I stumbled upon this read at my local library where it was displayed with the tag " Evans Carlson, Born in Sidney, NY". Boy, am I glad I borrowed it.

I feel a kindred spirit to the author's final paragraph in the acknowledgments section; where recently my family listened to me speak at length about 20th century China and all the "Can you believe this?!?" factoids they politely entertained.

Color me convinced that Carlson was a man of principle, who upheld a spirit of enduring freedom and sacrifice. A man who understood the microscopic and macroscopic implications a globalized world brings, who wove together the necessary skienes of truth to demonstrate all that's best in humanity to all who might listen.

And did his troops ever listen.

For a leader who embodied the Gung Ho spirit, literally coining the phrase, his battalion only reported one individual who had a leave of absence due to combat fatigue, or PTSD. The dimensions of wellness that were integrated into the training of the first special operations group was ahead of its time: namely the spiritual, social, and intellectual education to strengthen the individual. Refined from Carlson's trek and stay with the Chinese communists, and ultimately his repression posthumously to uphold the status quo.

It would seem to me some recognition should be given in his place of birth for such a decorated veteran. In spite of airing out of his sympathies to communism, which as pointed out was a very different brand than what is held in the Zeitgeist, I would be interested in reaching out to the VFW in Sidney, NY about recognizing this American Worthy.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evans Carlson was a unique person; set out from home before he was a legal adult to live life on his own terms. dreamed of being a writer all of his life and drifted from college to jobs to the military, always trying to find the magic that would fulfill his life. Throughout all of this, he remained a strong Christian and believed in conservative ideals.

After leaving the military and trying some other non-fulfilling jobs, he joins the Marines.

After going through many chapters of this development, I wondered how did he create a special Marine Corps force? We see him follow a Chinese general who has a very different view of what being a leader means and how to motivate his soldiers to fight with very little of anything. This transforms Carlson.

He slowly changes his views and transforms from a conservative to basically a Communist. Then he is allowed to form a special unit within the Marines to mirror what he saw in China. Initially, it is pretty rough going although an American public hungry for hero does not know about that. He does find some success in later campaigns during WWII.

He turns out to be rather old -- in his 40s -- for being a field officer. After all that, he returns to the US because of being shot where higher Marine officers turn on him and deny him and his wife much benefits for what he did. Even when he dies, the Marines try to ignore him.

Quite a story. It is a long book but even there, I thought some information was not quite carried through. Did not detract much from the story.

Why the military let him operate as a one-man Marine unit in China is curious. Such a thing will probably never happen again.

[Dave Champ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. The book brings you in right away, and you follow Carlson throughout his life. It also goes through the history of the communists and the nationalists in China - sometimes opposed to each other, sometimes in an uneasy alliance against the Japanese. I have a decent overall knowledge of WWII and the years that led up to it, but this level of detail about the these conflicts was new to me (maybe no surprise, given how little China is mentioned in many histories of WWII). The book brings you through it, though - in a good way, explaining things along the way. I feel like I now see a whole new side to WWII.

Plus some exciting early special forces stuff - first in Nicaragua and then later in Asia.

But the real spine of the book for me was Carlson’s character. His affinity for communism was complicated - or at least my reaction to it was (including some sadness). But I won’t write more about that here, so that you can see what you think of it for yourself. Highly recommended. S.P. obviously knows his subject - both in this and his previous book, Imperial Twilight.

[Nicholas Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even the bare outlines of Evans Carlson's life are hard to believe: the boy who drops out of school, runs away from home, enlists in the military with almost no education, and yet somehow grows up to become perhaps the leading American voice on China; the official who shakes off his prejudices, embeds for months with Chinese communist forces in the years before WWII, and is clear-eyed enough to see what they will go on to achieve; the unorthodox Marine who believes that civic education was as fundamental as battle strategy; the brilliant tactician who puts the special in special forces; the close confidant of FDR who becomes a possible Presidential candidate.

Throughout The Raider, you feel continually surprised by how much Carlson did, how much he saw, how open he was to his remarkable experiences, how often he was in the right place at the right time, how well-known he was -- and how completely (and tragically) he's been forgotten. This is a book that rightly restores him to his improbable place in history. An intimate, taut, dramatic portrait.

[Chris Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have enjoyed Mr. Platt's books on China about the Opium War and the Taiping revolt. This one, not so much. I am torn about this review. Four stars for Mr. Platt's research and writing. The topic, three stars. Evans Carlson is a difficult, complex, individual with all kinds of baggage. He is also a bona fide warrior-hero, who championed innovative and workable concepts. Mr. Platt carefully gives his biography a thoroughness that one expects from his writing. The ties with China are delineated and the idiocy of American policy towards WWII China are made plain. The information is good and worthwhile. Using Carlson to show it? Meh.
One minor nit. He sometimes mentions people by their jobs or actions without giving names in the text or notes.

[Bernice Lerner · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCELLENT BIOGRAPHY!
This beautifully written, deeply researched biography of adventurer Evans Carlson brings readers into the world of a mission-driven marine who wanted "to do something big with his life." Rich with telling anecdotes and details about the men and women Carlson encounters, historical events (including unforgettable scenes!), and political, military, and social developments in China in the period before and during WWII, Platt's masterpiece entertains and edifies. And it tells the truth about its compelling subject--Carlson's diary entries, letters home, and other sources reveal a flawed, impulsive character, who studies the attributes of an ideal military leader before becoming one.

[Jacob Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written biography of a fascinating but largely forgotten hero of WWII.

I knew little of Carlson beyond his wikipedia page before reading and was struck by what a man he was. Fearless in battle, uncompromising in his principles, a searcher. The fact that his memory has been buried is a testament to the strength of his ideals.

If men like Carlson and Wallace and Stillwell had been listened to rather than the fanatical anticommunists who persecuted them, the world would be a much better place today. Sadly timely, as it appears we are entering a new and even more extreme Neo-McCarthyite moment in our nation's history.

[Gerald McFarland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific book--five stars all the way.
Platt uses a biography of World War II marine hero Evans Carlson (who introduced the phrase "Gung Ho" to marine lore) as a framework from which to tell the story of the war in the Pacific, specifically, the competition between the Japanese imperial armies, Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Chinese, and the Communist Chinese forces led by Mao. Carlson's signal contribution to this sweeping drama was to draw on the Communist army's example of guerilla warfare tactics in shaping his marines into the original special forces unit in the U.S. military.

[Robert Bonneau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evans Carlson was a complex man—brilliant, courageous, charming, flawed, and sometimes naive—whose best insights might have helped us do better in the world, particularly with China. His story is fascinating throughout. Platt’s portrayal of him is vivid and insightful. So too the many other people—famous, infamous, and not so famous—that we meet in the book. Throughout, Platt deftly blends biography and history, particularly in portraying Carlson's evolving views on international and military matters. This a book of deep understanding and electrifying action, all excellently written.

[Nathan T Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story about a true American hero whose accomplishments were diminished by a cancel culture far ahead of the modern era. Evans was a lifelong student and an innovator. We fell in love with the same amount of ease that he walked through battles and left a trail of admirers and haters along the way. I recommend this book to anybody interested in early marine history, pacific theatre WW2, or the CCP and KMT.

[Cindy Handler · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book subjects are complex, and often loved and loathed for the same reasons. Transformational maverick Marine Evans Carlson, whose WWII Second Raiders were the progenitors of U.S. Special Forces, is such a man. This highly-researched, eminently enjoyable biography is a must-read for military history lovers, as well as those of us who just like being entertained.

[Ron Nurmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A complicated man and Marine officer who learned from the Communist 8th Army in China a guerrilla style of fighting, and he tried to get the Marines to adopt this style. He was largely unsuccessful because it was thinking out of the box. He did lead the Carlson Raiders on the Guadalcanal campaign, but was soon kicked upstairs not to lead the Raiders again.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Forgotten history of a unique capability developed within the World War II marine corps based off of one man’s observations of Chinese forces fighting the Japanese. So interesting and well written.

[Richard Sloman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly interesting biography of the man who created and led one of the Marine Raider Battalion.

[Jafry M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, 4.5 star in my opinion a nice fun read about a person who accomplished so much it almost seems fake.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book by Stephen Platt.

[David Hymas · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[Darlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very informative and interesting. I felt bad about the way Evans Carlson was treated and how he was portrayed after his death.

[Jake Nihart · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mark of a good biography in my view is a compelling pull of the reader into something broader than just the biographee. In this case, Platt's expertise of China's dynamic history in the early 20th century and ability to bring it to life accomplishes that task.

Evans Carlson as a figure and Marine legend is more than enough "legs" for the book to stand on, but his activities with the Eighth Route Army prior to WWII is what really paints the Carlson portrait. Who knew? His experience here birthed the concept of the Marine Raiders and, in the broader view of Carlson's life, was arguably his highlight.

Easy 5 stars awarded to The Raider. I was absolutely fascinated by China's internal struggle in the 1930s and the fact Evans Carlson had a front row seat. Carlson in China in the late '30s was a mirror image to Ernest Hemingway in Spain at the same time. Their sense of mission to side with communist-backed forces against fascist aggression wouldn't age well a decade later during the Red Scare. Yet they acted on principle and believed in their sense of duty.

Pairs well with "Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy" by Nicholas Reynolds.