Survivor China

Honorable Survivor: Mao's China, McCarthy's America and the Persecution of John S. Service
$37.95
If Tuchman's =Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45= (published in 1978) drew obvious parallels between America's misadventures in China and Vietnam, this one seems to posit similarities to our more recent involvement in the Middle East. In =Honorable Survivor=, Joiner has retold the story of how the West "lost China" in a considerably greater - and more useful - detail than Tuchman's version, in no small part because Joiner was able to tap many formerly classified documents... as well as get the story straight from the horse's mouth.

Using the same dramatic device employed by Tuchman, Joiner tells us the long, sordid tale of a man's attempts to simply report the truth as he saw it to his superiors. As in =Stilwell=, the author personalizes the story adequately to help the reader sense the central character's considerable dismay and frustration, something to which anyone who's worked in the "political mystery" can relate.

Had Stilwell lived into the late `40s and early `50s, he might have himself been the principal "whipping boy" for those seeking to gain greater control over American society in the name of "national security." Stilwell passed on, however, and State Department veterans Jack Service, John Davies and John Vincent became convenient targets for narcissistic and unscrupulous power-seekers like Patrick Hurley, Edgar Hoover and "Tailgunner Joe" McCarthy.

Service was vastly more castigated and pilloried for his truth-telling than Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson. His "crucifixion" lasted over a decade (from 1945 to 1957). FBI documents, finally declassified under the Freedom of Information Act, spotlight a virtual obsession with the State Department in general, and Service in particular, on the part of a director of a truly "secret police" who'd been at his post since 1924 (the same year Joseph Stalin became the most powerful man in Russia).

Knowing his nephews, I was honored to speak with "Uncle Jack" in 1998. At 89, his memories were crystal clear. Equally clear was the fact that he had worked through and made sense of the entire matter and bore no lingering grudges. Service understood the anti-communist paranoia of the Cold War, as well as how it was used by some to advance their personal and political imperatives.

Few people in the West have ever known or understood the Chinese people and their Communist masters as well as Jack Service. Those who seek to gain at least a bit of his (and the author's) remarkable grasp of China in the 20th Century will find =Honorable Survivor= to be =the= book on America and China of this era, as well as another look into the manipulation of truth with fear.

Survivor 15 China - The Album [CD on Demand]
$12.99
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Ashley Massaro WWE Survivor: China 8x10 Photo
$7.99
Show support for your favorite celebrity or athlete with a high quality photo! This 8x10 Photo will look great displayed in any fan's home or office. Many other photos available, including movie stills, actors & actresses, musicians, athletes, and more!

A Chicken's A Little Bit Smarter

I spent ages downloading all the things they told me to download so that I could watch these episodes. I got charged for the episode I wanted to view, then when I went to watch it, I was told that I could not watch it because of my location. Somehow, they figured that my computer is not in the USA and so therefore, I can't watch it. Its only avail to computers in the USA. If only they had figured out I wasn't in the USA at the time they charged me, and at the time they told me to download the viewer program then I could have saved a heap of time and some money. What a waste. Why on earth can't they just sell the seasons in boxed set, becasue not everyone gets the show in their country, and not everyone can work these new fangled download things - I just want to watch the episodes not take ten years off my life trying to get it through the computer. BOXED SETS - OF ALL THE SEASONS IS WHAT IS REQUIRED. PLEASE CBS PLEASE.