Treading Softly: U.S. Marines in China, 1819-1949 (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780275970789)

From the mid-19th century to the early Cold War, the United States has a long history with China, and that interaction has not always been positive or productive. This brief history of foreign intervention in China, viewed through the experiences of the United States Marines, examines how the occupying powers dealt with a fellow sovereign nation. In many cases this involved the partition or outright absorption of Chinese territory through naked aggression. Clark contends that, considering the past two centuries, the Chinese have good reason to distrust all foreigners, and he urges the pursuit of a badly needed rapprochement.

This is, however, also the story of the evolution of the Marine Corps as a separate service. Although an occupying force, the Marines did make considerable efforts to earn the friendship of the Chinese people. Always on the brink of extinction due to budgetary cuts and the enmity of the army and navy, the Marines managed to perform an onerous and difficult duty in a foreign land. With a resurgent China constantly testing the United States, a fellow Pacific Rim nation, every policymaker should be well aware of the often difficult history that we share and the mistakes that have been made in the past.

Author: George B. Clark
ISBN-10: 0275970787
ISBN-13: 9780275970789
Publisher: Praeger
Language: English
Published: 04/30/2001
Pages: 240
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.21lbs
Size: 9.60h x 6.44w x 0.91d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 02/01/2002 pg. 1097
Reference and Research Bk News 11/01/2001 pg. 249