Book Review: The Wars for Asia, 1911-1949

Among the best contributions here are the several dealing with Manchuria, which plays a starring role in these intertwined dramas: its importance to Japan both before and after its seizure in 1931; as the scene of Soviet involvement in the last act of the war against Japan, whose surrender was accelerated partly by fear of greater Russian involvement in the occupation of Japan; and as the crucial battlefield in the civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists, where the tipping point tilted permanently in favour of the latter. [...]the reader may wonder whether a less bold, less sweeping, and also less problematic work both in its generalizations and in its particulars might have been preferred. Yet this book raises big issues and it is these very qualities that stir things up. [...]the use of conflict as an organizing principle and narrative theme has considerable force.