Includes bibliographical references (p. [597]-698) and index.

Revolution. A neo-Confucian youth ; The northern expedition and civil war ; The Nanking decade -- War of resistance. The Long War begins ; Chiang and his American allies ; The China theater ; Yalta, Manchuria, and postwar strategy -- Civil war. Chimera of victory ; The great failure -- The island. Streams in the desert ; Managing the protector ; Shifting dynamics ; Nixon and the last years.

Chiang was a man of war who led the most ancient and populous country in the world through a quarter century of bloody revolutions, civil conflict, and wars of resistance against Japanese aggression. In 1949, when he was defeated by Mao Zedong, he fled to Taiwan, where he ruled for another twenty-five years. Playing a key role in the cold war with China, Chiang suppressed opposition with his "white terror," controlled inflation and corruption, carried out land reform, and raised personal income, health, and educational levels on the island. --from publisher description