A Force So Swift: Mao, Truman, and the Birth of Modern China, 1949 by Kevin Peraino
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Force So Swift is essentially the story of a single year, 1949, in Chinese and American history. This year saw the victory of the Chinese Communists over the Nationalist forces and the creation of the Peoples Republic of China, as well as the beginning of the Nationalist government on Taiwan. In the US, President Truman had won the 1948 election and the events unfolding in China were the first big foreign policy challenge of his term of office.

The United States had provided support to the Nationalist forces in China since before the outbreak of Word War II. But after the defeat of Japan, the Nationalist forces Chiang Kai-shek simply could not stop the progress of the forces under Mao. In many cases it was not that they were defeated in battle, but that they just would not fight. Truman and his Secretary of State Dean Acheson realized that there was nothing that could be done to prevent the Nationalist defeat, but could not really say this out loud, due to the onset of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

It’s a fascinating story of both domestic and international politics that is still relevant today; the relationship between the US and the Peoples Republic and Taiwan is very complex and this is a consequence of the events of 1949. The author has done a great job of creating a narrative out of these complicated events. Along the way we meet and get to know the main figures of Truman, Acheson, Mao and Chiang as well as Madame Chiang and people like Congressman Walter Judd. And there are also brief appearances by people like John Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

I really enjoyed this book. It is informative on many levels, from the events on the ground in East Asia to US domestic politics. If you’re interested in this time period or just curious about the relationship between the US and China, I strongly recommend this book.