A Force So Swift: Mao, Truman, and the Birth of Modern China, 1949

A Force So Swift: Mao, Truman, and the Birth of Modern China, 1949 by Kevin Peraino

If you’re looking for an easy, somewhat brief primer of the events in 1949 that led to the culmination of Mao Tse-Tung and the formation of Communist China, this is a great, easily digestible book to achieve your goal.  I want to emphasize “brief” and “primer”.  This book is only 276 pages (excluding sources, references, etc.), and there’s not really a lot of detail that can be covered when you are talking about such a dense subject.  You can very easily argue that this book doesn’t cover as much as it should, but as the title suggests, the main focus is on one pivotal year and the key leaders from the perspective of the United States.

The author gives us a bit of history before the pivotal year and has a nice concluding chapter that talks about how these events sculpted the current China as we know it today. Mainly, though, this is a blow by blow account of Mao’s pivotal year of his conquest of China, and Truman and the American leadership deciding how to handle the whole mess.

It seemed like this book was much more about Truman (and members of his cabinet and congress) than it was about Mao.  We don’t read, for example, the multitude of atrocities that were committed throughout China in order for the communists to achieve their rapacious goal.  We read very little of the rapes, the pillaging, and the cannibalism as a result of the famine imposed by the communist armies.  In fact, had you been a novice of history, you might wonder why, exactly, this whole event was such a big deal.  Countries encounter civil wars all the time, right?  Can’t you just chalk this one off as yet another one?

Well, hindsight tells us differently, sadly.  In many ways, these events in China led to Truman’s eventual downfall, yet the apologist in me says we shouldn’t judge him too harshly.  Had he actually gone in with an iron fist, he may have prevented (or eliminated) a brutal dictator, yet this is what George W. Bush did in Iraq, and history doesn’t remember him kindly either.  Part of the criticism of the Truman’s administration during 1949 is that he seemed determined to keep Communism out of Europe post World War II, but not Asia.  How come?  This is where allegations of racism come into play.  The thought amongst many at this time in history was that these “little yellow men” weren’t really that big of a concern, and they would have to fix these problems on their own without allied intervention.  Again, this leads to speculation.  Had we played a firmer hand with China, it’s very possible that the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam could have been avoided.  We must concede, though, that’s it’s much easier to look backwards and reflect on “what we could have done differently”.  Plus, Harry Truman wasn’t alone in his thinking. In fact we read much more about the comings and goings of Secretary of State Dean Acheson, who essentially shared Truman’s view, and possibly even led Truman to his way of thinking.

The main focus of this book, though, isn’t necessarily whether or not Truman and company made the ‘right or wrong’ decision. The author simply educates his readers on the particular events during the current year and lets his readers make up their own minds.  It’s not a scathing critique, nor a dogmatic defense.  It’s simply an account of what happened and the motivations of the main players.

It was also very easy to read, and the author does a magnificent job keeping his readers’ attention.  The chapters are all fairly short, and he begins each chapter with a “hook” that immediately grabs and retains your interest for the remainder of the particular chapter.  This is crucial to someone like myself who tends to get bored rather easily; especially in terms of world history.  Many times I’ll read a mammoth history book and come away with the conclusion that the particular book could have been twice as good had it been half as long.  Kevin Peraino’s account, however, left me with the opposite conclusion.  Had this book been twice as long, it would have been…..well….twice as good.  You simply wanted more.  Fortunately, there are many other volumes out there that can placate your appetite if you feel as I did.  Peraino is an excellent writer.  According to Amazon, his portfolio is rather slim in terms of written works.  Let’s hope to see more by him in the future; regardless of the topic.