China's War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival

摘要

When historians of East Asia are asked to recommend an English-language book on China's long war with Japan, whether that is defined as the series of Japanese invasions beginning in 1931 or the Sino-Japanese war dated from the skirmish at Marco Polo bridge in July 1937, the works that come to mind have always been less than ideal. There are several edited volumes with superb essays on many aspects of the conflict; there are over half a dozen strong works debating the role of the conflict in the rise of Communist power; there are histories that focus on Nationalist party rule and its role in the war, as well as a growing number of more thematically focused volumes that explore everything from the issues of collaboration to refugees. Most recently, Diana Lary's excellent Chinese People at War: Human Suffering and Social Transformation (Cambridge University Press, 2010) is ideal for teaching, with its innovative combination of short narrative summaries, thematic essays, case studies and primary-source readings. But this war, which so profoundly impacted China in the 20th century, is surely remarkable for the lack of a worthy general survey in English. Rana Mitter has brought this unfortunate state of affairs to an end.