Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45.

TUCHMAN, Barbara W.

Item Number: 137088

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1971.

First edition of Tuchman’s authoritative biography of General Joseph Stilwell. Octavo, original cloth, cartographic endpapers, illustrated with 32 pages of photographs and 4 full-page maps. Boldly signed by Barbara Tuchman. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Robert Galster.

An early American popular hero of the Second World War, United States Army General Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell gained notoriety for his remarkable victories in the China Burma India Theater. When it became necessary to send a senior officer to China to keep it in the war, Stilwell was selected, over his own personal objections, by President Franklin Roosevelt and his old friend, Army Chief of Staff George Marshall. Stilwell became the chief of staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, was responsible for all Lend-Lease supplies going to China, and later became deputy commander of South East Asia Command. Despite his status and position in China, he became involved in conflicts with other senior Allied officers over the distribution of lend-lease materiel, Chinese political sectarianism and proposals to incorporate Chinese and US forces in the 11th Army Group under British command.