Forgotten Ally

China's World War II, 1937 - 1945

By: Rana Mitter

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

The epic, untold story of China's devastating eight-year war of resistance against Japan.

For decades, a major piece of World War II history has gone virtually unwritten. The war began in China two full years before Hitler invaded Poland, and China eventually became the fourth great ally, partner to the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain. Yet its drama of invasion, resistance, slaughter, and political intrigue remains little known in the West.

Rana Mitter focuses his gripping narrative on three towering leaders: Chiang Kai-shek, the politically gifted but tragically flawed head of China's Nationalist government; Mao Zedong, the Communists' fiery ideological stalwart, seen here at the beginning of his epochal career; and the lesser-known Wang Jingwei, who collaborated with the Japanese to form a puppet state in occupied China. Drawing on Chinese archives that have only been unsealed in the past 10 years, he brings to vivid new life such characters as Chiang's American chief of staff, the unforgettable "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, and such horrific events as the Rape of Nanking and the bombing of China's wartime capital, Chongqing. Throughout, Forgotten Ally shows how the Chinese people played an essential role in the wider war effort, at great political and personal sacrifice.

Forgotten Ally rewrites the entire history of World War II, yet it also offers surprising insights into contemporary China. No 20th-century event was as crucial in shaping China's worldview, and no one can understand China, and its relationship with America today, without this definitive work.

©2013 Rana Mitter (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Excellent overview of the China theater

Mitter does us all a service for this excellent work on World War II's China theater. It provides a balanced take on the role of the major players, particularly in laying out the often insurmountable difficulties faced by the nationalists (which are forgotten or dismissed by other histories, such as Tuchman's 'Stillwell and the American Experience in China.') The book spends much of its time on political and diplomatic events, and could have provided more detail on the major battles and military realities on the ground. The narrator gave a solid performance, but as with most audiobooks on China bungles the pronunciation of various names and places.

Simon Vance is the best

Any additional comments?

Simon Vance is my favorite narrator, fiction or nonfiction. Terrific job with the pronunciation of innumerable Chinese names and places. A wonderful book on an all-too-often forgotten part of the Second World War.

Outstanding read, top notch recording, challenging listen

The book itself is an excellent account of a poorly-understood aspect of World War II and its impact on China’s role in modern geopolitics. The recording is excellent. However, the, at times, rapid iteration of names, places, and affiliations may be difficult to follow without repeating portions of the narration, especially if the listener doesn’t already have somewhat of an, understanding of the regional geography of China and of many of the primary and secondary personalities in Chinese, Japanese, US, British, Russian, and German geopolitics at the time. If this is the case, the written version of the book, would be preferable.

Fills an important gap in Western understanding of

WWII ....China fought the Japanese Empire for 8 years, lost 15+ million people. great book.

A Different Reality

I never knew or understood the Chinese involvement in WWII or that they were even involved. China was at war well before WWII and had a large impact on our success against the Japanese. I have gained much insight and respect for the Chinese people from this book.

A big missing piece

What made the experience of listening to Forgotten Ally the most enjoyable?

Discovering things that put much into perspective: China's situation in the 20th century and its evolution, Japan's invasion of China and China's war of resistance, the relationship between the Kuomingtang and the communists (Russian and Chinese), the relationship between western countries and Asia a few decades ago, the character of the much maligned Chiang Kai-shek and the enormous difficulties he faced, how American views of China were formed.

Have you listened to any of Simon Vance’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, he is generally quite good. His pronunciation of Chinese words is mostly OK (recognizable, which is already better than what I've heard from certain professors specializing in Asia or even China).

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes....not much of the former though I'm afraid.

Any additional comments?

A must for anyone who wants to understand 20th century history.

Questionable historical perspective

Good enough book, however the author apparently chooses to embrace his/her biases, rather than try to avoid them (or at least address and apologize for them). The book focuses on - and gives all benefits of doubt and the author's sympathy to - Shang of the Nationalists. Mao is largely ignored or glossed over while General Stilwell is essentially blamed for the failures of Shang's regime, as well as his well known character flaws.

It's not clear why the author chooses to give Shang ample context and paint scenes of his humanity to cover up or lessen the fact that he was the leader of a notoriously ineffective and corrupt government that ultimately failed, while attacking Stilwell for his (mostly) accurate criticism of the failures of the Nationalists and ignoring Stilwell's precarious position as soldier and diplomat, as well as Stilwell's genuine and well-documented regard for the Chinese.

The ill fated chang kai-shek

As I believe that I am the first person to write a review on this fast moving account of the china's war of resistance I feel that it is necessary to proclaim how valuable this book is for the WWII buff. Most people are aware of the fact that China was involved in the war but they are not aware to what extent. China in fact was the first theater of WWII and experienced some of the first and most brutal communal war crimes of the war. This book is some what biased towards the Nationalist point of view and that of Chang Kai-Shek in particular. However it explains the communist point of view as well. After reading-listening to this book I came away with a feeling that the communists let the Nationalist camp bare the brunt of all the fighting while waiting for the war to end. Having saved its forces for the upcoming civil war the Communists were better poised to fight then the badly beat National forces. Thus leading to the current communist government in Bejing. As you might be able to tell I was left with a bad taste with the actions of the communist forces durring the battle for Chinas fight for survival. I would suggest this book to any one who was either interested sino-american relations or just WWII it's self.

The Resilience of China

This book was well-researched and dedicated a great deal of focus toward three major players in China's involvement in WWII: Chiang Kai-Shek the Nationalist leader of of the KMT, Mao Tse-Tung of the Communist Party, and Wang Jingwei the collaborator. The book provided a great deal of detail regarding the battles China fought, its role in tying down at least a million Japanese troops on the mainland, and the struggles faced by Chiang Kai-Shek and Mao Tse-Tung. More interestingly, the story focused heavily on the intrigue and betrayals faced and committed by all three figures, as well as the involvement of the United States in setting the stage for a postwar China.

However, I have two major complaints. The first is that it focuses way too heavily on Chiang Kai-Shek, Mao Tse-Tung, and Wang Jingwei, and not enough on the commanders, soldiers, or people who had bear the brunt of the fighting and occupation. Even then, more focus is given to Chiang and Mao. My second complaint is that it did not really focus much attention on another collaborator: Puyi, who was made a puppet-emperor of the puppet state of Manchukuo. While I am aware that Rana Mitter has a separate book on Manchuria during WWII/the Second Sino-Japanese War, it is not available on Audible yet.

China Japan War

An exceptional account of how China became a world leader. And the contributions of the three major powers The United States, Great Britain and Russia.