The United States and China in the Twentieth Century

by Michael Schaller

From the nineteenth-century opium trade and missionary movements through the establishment of diplomatic relations and suppression of the Democratization Movement, this book illuminates the sudden, often bizarre shifts in relations between the U.S. and China. Focusing on the period since the
1930s when the U.S. involved itself in a struggle to shape China's destiny and, by extension, to remake Asia, Michael Schaller shows how the policies and perceptions that led to America's wars in Korea and Vietnam were formulated during World War II when the U.S. first confronted the Chinese
Communist Revolution. Schaller also explains U.S. policy in terms of America's perception of its own needs in Asia and how the revolution in China challenged our sense of omnipotence in the Pacific.

The new second edition is fully revised and brought up to date to reflect the changes in U.S.-Chinese relations that came with the Carter, Reagan, and early Bush administrations, as well as the "Second Chinese Revolution" initiated by Deng Xiaoping. It includes entirely new chapters on the Nixon
years, the process of normalizing relations under Carter, the tensions caused by Reagan's anti-communist rhetoric, the status of Taiwan, and the impact of the dramatic post-Mao reforms in Chinese society. The new edition also analyzes current Sino-American relations in the context of the emerging
economic and strategic significance of the Pacific Basin and China's domestic turmoil.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, China, Politics, United States

264 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1979

About the author

Michael Schaller is Regents Professor of History at the University of Arizona. A specialist in twentieth-century American politics and foreign policy, he earned his bachelor's degree from SUNY Binghamton in 1968 and his master's (1969) and doctorate (1974) degrees from the University of Michigan.

Reviews

[Hudd Huddleston · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really like this book cause it doesnt assume that you already know everything about history. it gives clear outlines and brief backgrounds before it goes into anything detailed. it taught me alot about the korean and vietnam wars, which i knew nothing about.. so that was nice.. its an easy read, not to scholarly. my u.s.- sino relations teacher recomended the book to me, and it works out nice cause it has followed our class sylabus to the tee.

[Janice Orlando · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned that white, Christian, American people are evil and should all die in a fire. As soon as possible. Ok, actually that stuff is just in the first part about the Opium wars. Clearly Schaller knows little about this time period and attempted to make up for it with rhetoric. However, the middle part of the book is a nice run-through of China-US relations - especially the Cold War era. I liked the information about Vietnam.

[Dominic · Rating 2 out of 5]

200 pages on how China has changed in the last few decades and how it has affected relations with the US