Book Reviews : Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945. By BARBARA TUCH- MAN. (New York: Bantam Books, Inc., 1971. xxii, 678. Illustrations, appen dix, notes, bibliography, and index. $2.25.)

• Author: Berton L. Lamb
• Published date: 01 March 1974
• Date: 01 March 1974
• DOI: 10.1177/106591297402700117
• Subject Matter: Articles

190
Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945. By BARBARA TUCH-
MAN. (New York: Bantam Books, Inc., 1971. xxii, 678. Illustrations, appen-
dix, notes, bibliography, and index. $2.25.)
Biography -
even autobiography -
is often chosen to meet heuristic ends.
Teachers and popular lecturers who have been involved in the roots and heart of
their subject often choose to teach and tell about it in terms of their own frame of
reference -
their own life. Tuchman’s major work on Joseph Stilwell assumes this
same style. She attempts three interwoven themes structured around Stilwell’s life.
The focus on Stilwell brings together not only the life and times of &dquo;Vinegar Joe&dquo;
but also a perceptive history of almost 100 years of Chinese politics, and an analysis
of American perceptions regarding China and her role in the world. Like all such
stories, however, the central character was not present at all events; this means
inevitable weakness in parts of the story or parts of the analysis.
In keeping with the tripartite structure of the book, three themes centered
on Stilwell, Tuchman really has three theses. The first is that Stilwell exemplifies
the perfect American to help pull China out of her wartime problems. Stilwell, the
supurb commander, fine teacher, and gifted linguist (also pragmatic American)
really knew the correct solutions. The second is that in spite of Stilwell’s efforts
American policy on China was based on unreal assumptions of conditions in China,
especially her potential for democracy. Third, she implies -
strongly -
that Chiang
erred in his approach to the war and allowed the development of the ill will which
later overtook him. These theses lead to the bias in favor of a Stilwell interpreta-
tion of events.
Tuchman’s contention that Stilwell was the appropriate man for the job rests
on the particular plight of China and America’s troubles with the open door. Stil-
well had seen China in turmoil, he had seen the best and the...