Red Star Over China is a historical account written by Edgar Snow after he spent four months with the Chinese Communist leaders in 1936. The book provides the first authorized account of Mao Zedong's life, a history of the famous Long March, and insights into the men and women responsible for the Chinese revolution. It includes extensive notes on military and political developments in China, further interviews with Mao, a chronology covering 125 years of Chinese revolution, and detailed biographies of key figures. The book is significant for its unique perspective on the early years of Chinese communism and its prophetic insights into the future of the movement.
This book is an impassioned and detailed eyewitness account of the Russian Revolution. Written in the immediate aftermath of the events, it captures the spirit of the revolution through verbatim reports of speeches by leaders and comments from bystanders. Reed's account follows the fall of the provisional government, the assault on the Winter Palace, and Lenin's seizure of power, set against an idealized backdrop of soldiers, sailors, peasants, and the proletariat uniting to overthrow oppression.
This book provides a detailed and panoramic account of the development of the atomic bomb, starting from the early 19th-century discoveries in physics to the culmination of the Manhattan Project during World War II. It includes the contributions of key scientists such as Niels Bohr, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and others, and explores the scientific, political, and human aspects that led to the creation and use of the atomic bomb. The book won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award for its rigorous scholarship and compelling narrative[2][3][4].
I learned so much from Sarah Paine, Professor of History and Strategy at the Naval War College.
We discuss:
- how continental vs maritime powers think and how this explains Xi & Putin's decisions
- how a war with China over Taiwan would shake out and whether it could go nuclear
- why the British Empire fell apart, why China went communist, how Hitler and Japan could have coordinated to win WW2, and whether Japanese occupation was good for Korea, Taiwan and Manchuria
- plus other lessons from WW2, Cold War, and Sino-Japanese War
- how to study history properly, and why leaders keep making the same mistakes
If you want to learn more, check out her books - they’re some of the best military history I’ve ever read.
Watch on YouTube, listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript.
Timestamps
(0:00:00) - Grand strategy
(0:11:59) - Death ground
(0:23:19) - WW1
(0:39:23) - Writing history
(0:50:25) - Japan in WW2
(0:59:58) - Ukraine
(1:10:50) - Japan/Germany vs Iraq/Afghanistan occupation
(1:21:25) - Chinese invasion of Taiwan
(1:51:26) - Communists & Axis
(2:08:34) - Continental vs maritime powers
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