The Long March: The Untold Story

by Harrison E. Salisbury

Book Overview

An engrossing account (New York Times Book Review) of the Red Army's flightfrom the superior forces of Chiang Kai-shek in China during 1934-1935. Authortour.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0070544719
• ISBN13: 9780070544710
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 419 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

It Does What It Can

This book covers an event about which most people know little, and of which there is little to none in the way of formal record. Salisbury attempted to piece together some form of an account of the events which took place in the Long March with the only real information that could be gathered about the event: personal accounts, journals, and the like. As another reviewer states, it's an excellent compilation of this disparate information that would take a person a great deal of time to find separately (if one could at all, especially since most who participated in the event died years ago). If you came here looking for a formal textbook on the Long March, you're not going to find it here, or anywhere. If you came looking for what little is known about it (and some facts where the few were available), then you've come to the right place. It's not a perfectly observable world, and as a result a lot of pieces of history get lost. What information we have about the Long March would surely have been lost if not for the efforts of Salisbury, and it is good to have at least his imperfect compilation as an alternative to losing the event in the morass of ill-documented historical events.

Book review

This is one of the best historical documentations I have ever read. I highly recommend it to readers 21 and over.

Important Compilation of Primary Sources

Whether you approve of Communism or not, the fact that the people who led the Long March survived and went on to head one of the world's largest and most populous countries makes this book important. The Long March has become a legend for today's mainland Chinese, just as Washington's time at Valley Forge has become a legend for Americans. This book takes a close look at the events that gave rise to the legend and, as such, should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand modern China. It includes first-person interviews with participants of the March and anecdotes previously unpublished. The narrative is told largely from the vantage of Long March military commanders and commissars at the division, regiment and brigade levels. These soldiers are the ones who, after 1949, became China's generals, ministers and top provincial officials, and who specifically set Chinese policy for the next 30 to 40 years. Salisbury (1908-1993), a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, well conveys the drama of the Long March and its three struggles: 1. the Red Army with the Nationalist Army of Chiang Kai-shek 2. the Red Army with the elements and terrain of western China 3. the factions within the Red Army with each other. The latter struggle was primarily between the Mao Zedong faction and the Comintern faction led by Otto Braun, but there was also power struggles between the First Army led by Mao Zedong and the Fourth Army led by Zhang Guotao. Salisbury is sympathetic to Mao but his book is objective and well worth reading. Rather than an "unbiased history book" as another reviewer wanted this work to be, this volume is an important compilation of primary information about a period that shaped the development of a country on the verge of being one of the most powerful in the world. As Americans, who have long felt our country held that spot, we need to understand China so that we can hope to retain our own position as China becomes more influential.

Makes you feel a part of the March

Journalist Harrison Salisbury brings his superb style to the Long March of 1934-1935. Salisbury traveled to China in 1984 to retrace the steps of Mao's communists as they fled their bases in Hunan and Jiangxi Provinces, walking some 8,000 miles to their base up North. Readers see the harsh conditions as the troops plodded daily through the the wilderness regions of western China. They climbed mountains, crossed rivers and foraged for food, fighting off constant land and air attacks by pursuing Nationalists. Their numbers dwindled from casualties, hunger and disease, and many never reached the safety of Shaanxi Province. Readers may dislike communism but can still respect the marchers' accomplishment. One also gets a sense of how enduring poverty, plus the corruption and cruelties of the Nationalists paved the later takeover of China by the communists. Harrison Salisbury (1908-1993) was a superb international journalist, and he writes with a keen "just the facts" objectivity. One might also enjoy several other books from this very readable author, including 900 DAYS: THE SEIGE OF LENIGRAD, MOSCOW JOURNAL, TIANAMEN DIARY, HEROES OF MY TIME, etc.

remarkable achievement

This book chronicles events that led to, during, and shortly after the Long March, which was a heroic journey that the Chinese Communist-led Red Army took in the mid-30's. The journey started as the Red Army was driven out of their base by Chiang Kai Shek's Nationalist Army and faced total defeat. The Red Army fled the Nationalist Army by walking in the remote areas of China for two years and some 7000 miles while defending themselves against the Nationalist troops that were chasing them. But at the end of the journey, the Red Army not only survived but was also strengthened and earned more popular support. The Long March is considered a key turning point in the modern Chinese history.In this book, Salisbury combined his amazing story-telling skills with careful research and the unbiased attitude that a good reporter should possess. He interviewed generals, soldiers and ordinary citizens, collected stories related to historical events that were unknown to both Western readers AND Chinese readers. With all these materials, he tried to tell you what happened in China at that time, and why, and he succeeded. The details that Salisbury put in the book also allowed one to find out the personalities of the key players of modern Chinese history: Mao and his generals, Chiang and his generals. Salisbury's story-telling skill is perhaps nothing new to many readers. I had great enjoyment when reading this book, I felt that I shared the emotions of the people in the book. The description of the battles was so vivid I almost felt that I was there watching.So, if you want to know what life was like in the 1930s' China, if you want to know why Communism, an utterly unattractive idea in many people's eyes, won the support of Chinese people in the 30s', if you want to know what kind of people the Chinese Communist leaders were, or if you just want to read a good book on military history, read this one and you will not be disappointed.