The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia: James Bradley: 9780316196680: Amazon.com: Books

The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia: James Bradley: 9780316196680: Amazon.com: Books

The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia Paperback – May 3, 2016
by James Bradley  (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars    173 customer reviews
-----
 James Bradley
 Follow
Biography
I was born in Wisconsin surrounded by a loving family of ten and loved swimming in cold lakes. When I was a boy I read an article by former president Harry Truman recommending historical biographies for young readers. His reasoning was that it was easy to follow the storyline of someone’s life, and they would absorb the history of the times on the journey. History soon became my favorite subject and I have been an active reader all my life.

When I was thirteen years old I read an article by James Michener in Reader’s Digest which I paraphrase: “When you’re twenty-two and graduate from college, people will ask you, ‘What do you want to do?’ It’s a good question, but you should answer it when you’re thirty-five.” Michener went on to write that his experiences wandering the globe as a young man later inspired his works on Afghanistan, Spain, Japan and other places.

When I was nineteen years old, I lived and studied in Tokyo for one year. I later brought my Japanese friends home to Wisconsin. My father, John Bradley, had helped raise an American flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima and had shot a Japanese soldier dead. My dad warmly welcomed my Japanese buddies.

I traveled around the world when I was twenty-one, from the U.S. to Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, France, Germany, Italy, England and back to the United States.

At twenty-three I graduated with a degree in East Asian history from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

For the next twenty years I worked in the corporate communications industry in the United States, Japan, England and South Africa.

In my late thirties I took a year off to go around the world again. On this trip I made it to base camp on Mt. Everest and walked among lions in Africa.

My father died when I was forty years old. My search to find out why he didn’t speak about Iwo Jima led me to write Flags of Our Fathers and establish the James Bradley Peace Foundation.

Flags of Our Fathers went on to be a bestseller and a movie, but few saw its potential at first. In fact, as this New York Times article documents, twenty-seven publishers turned the book down over a period of twenty-five months. This difficult and humbling birthing process inspired my live presentation Doing the Impossible.

In 2001 a WWII veteran of the Pacific revealed to me that the U.S. government had kept secret the beheading deaths of eight American airmen on the Japanese island of Chichi Jima, next door to Iwo Jima. After researching their deaths, I informed the eight families and the world of the unknown facts in my book second book Flyboys. (One flyboy got away. His name was George Herbert Walker Bush.)

After writing two books about WWII in the Pacific, I began to wonder about the origins of America’s involvement in that war. The inferno that followed Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor had consumed countless lives, and believing there’s usually smoke before a fire, I set off to search Asia for the original irritants. The result of that search is my third book, The Imperial Cruise.

I am working on my fourth book, about Franklin Delano Roosevelt and China.

Above my desk are the framed words of James Michener:

“Just because you wrote a few books, the world is not going to change. You will find that you will go to sleep and awaken as the same son-of-a-bitch you were the day before.”

For the past ten years, the James Bradley Peace Foundation and Youth For Understanding have sent American students to live with families overseas. Perhaps in the future when we debate whether to fight it out or talk it out, one of these Americans might make a difference.
---
Customer Reviews
4.4 out of 5 stars
173
4.4 out of 5 stars
5 star
65%
4 star
21%
3 star
6%
2 star
4%
1 star
4%
-----
3.0 out of 5 starsThe Asian mystery
ByKermit Carrawayon June 28, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
This book attacks American foreign policy in East Asia, focusing on relationships between the Roosevelts and Japan and China. The central premise is that much of the conflict between the US and these nations could have been avoided by more astute foreign policies. The timing of the book is interesting, given the recent Roosevelt hagiography on PBS by Ken Burns. But that is probably a coincidence.
There is little that is conceptually new in this book, but it contains much detail that was new, and sometimes exhausting, to me. How many times do you have to state the oft-reported observation that Chiang Kai-Shek and his wife were manipulators and crooks? The book is very uneven, focusing too much on the China Lobby and Chiang and paying too little attention to others who played important roles in these dramas, such as Mao, the Japanese leaders, Ho Chi Minh, Korea’s leaders and others.
To me, the conclusions reached by the author seem a stretch. Certainly, events would have played out differently had the American leaders, beginning with the Roosevelts, been less gullible. Maybe my father would not have died in the South Pacific. But that is all speculation.
Once opened by Perry, Japan seemed destined to follow a European model of colonialism, as did every “emerging” nation of that era. The relationship between Teddy and the Japanese was only a side show. China was the “weak man” of Asia, being picked apart by everyone else, much as the Ottoman Empire before WWI. That made them an obvious target for Japan. Given its history, China could not rise until a strong leader could connect with its vast population, enter Mao, only delayed by Chiang, just another warlord. And Mao, an avowed Communist regardless of his postulations, would always have been opposed by American businessmen. The postwar mistakes of American “statesmen” can just as easily be blamed on the failure to recognize anti-colonialism as the dominant driving force. This misjudgment, along with the pathological fear of American presidents of being considered “weak”, sent us spiraling into avoidable conflicts in Korea and Viet Nam. Unfortunately, these problems are being perpetuated, with the Middle East being the new battleground.
I would draw three different conclusions from the details so vividly described in this book. First, America should not let its foreign policies be dominated by Christians, Ivy League elitists or businessmen; they all have personal agendas. Second, personal diplomacy by Presidents should be avoided; the Roosevelts are not the only ones who have been gulled. One can cite the Saudis and Bushes and Netanyahu as current problems. Third, one should always respect the opinion of real experts, whether diplomats or scientists, when deciding important national issues.
Although I believe this book is significantly flawed, it does provide a lot of interesting information about a critical period in American history, plus lessons that we should have learned, but did not.
Read less
Comment| 26 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsWhen History is Hidden, We All Lose
ByNonaon April 24, 2015
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
Bradley has written a fascinating history of America’s perceptions of China. To do that, he has to explain Chinese history and compare that history to America’s perception of China.

Bradley points out the insanity of our American recognition of Taiwan as “China,” when the real China has 1.3 billion people and 9.6 million square kilometers of land, while Taiwan has only 23 million people and 36 thousand square miles of territory.

Bradley explains how we arrived at this skewed perception of the number 2 superpower, and gives us fascinating details on the way. Sure I have read of the China trade and China Clipper ships, but I ignorantly thought people made fortunes in porcelain and silks. Sure I knew there were opium wars and an Open Door Policy, but I never put together a timeline or really understood the issues. Bradly documents how England and the US fought to sell opium to China and how the profits of those drug sales were the foundation of many American fortunes and even more misconceptions.

Bradley explains how Chinese politicians managed American perceptions and how smart American politicians playing to a domestic audience missed multiple opportunities to create real alliances and act in both countries self-interest. If only we had realized these facts 50 years ago.

The China Mirage is a fascinating book because it explains what I never understood-the reasons why the US considered a little island to be the real China for 30 years while the continental China was ignored as a type of Russian vassal state.

Unlike many histories, The China Mirage never bores and always enlightens. It is a fascinating and entertaining read. I highly recommend it.
Read less
----
5.0 out of 5 starsChallenges many beliefs
ByKindle Customeron April 24, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Cordell Hull is shown to be very careful, but he missed a meeting of the minds with his Japanese counterpart. The Japanese showed bad judgement In posting an ambassador to the United States who was not fluent in English. All of this is happening at a time when neither the US nor Japan could risk a misinterpretation of the other's message. On the other hand, China's Nationalists were marketing wizards. They were educated in the best US Universities and knew how to use the Christianity card to their advantage. The prize for the American Christians was both the Americanization and the conversion of China, notwithstanding the existence of the Exclusion Act! The problem was the people who were responsible for executing in China were kleptomaniacs, stealing from the U.S and exploiting their own people. However, their pitch was so captivating, they convinced both the religious and political elite to support their cause, even though there were strong contrary head-winds .

So what! It was a major factor in Japan's decision to attack Pearl Harbor. The Chinese lobby made an embargo of oil and the freezing of assets viable. You have to read the book to see how it was cleverly done. Hint: the President was away meeting Churchill, the Secretary of State on vacation and three very smart Ivy League hires used the power vacuum to implement the restrictions. When the decision-makers returned, they faced a fait accompli which they couldn't reverse since Japan, as a result of it's outrageous conduct in China, lost the moral high ground.

The book unfurled an intricate web of money and power. Unfortunately, the Nationalists were using other people's money (U.S) to amass their power. So successful were they at their game, the U.S became blind to any counterpoint. This becomes a tragedy in history leading the U.S to bet the house on the wrong horse. There were repeated overtures by Mao to befriend the U.S but because of this powerful influence, all initiatives were rebuffed. This lead to almost thirty years of hostile relations between the U.S and China. The rhetorical question is: if we had normal relations with China, could the wars in Korea and Vietnam have been avoided?

Finally, the reader will be surprised to learn the identity of some of the patrician families whose fortune was at least partially attributive to the opium business. These dope dealers diversified their ill-gotten gains into legitimate businesses which provided the foundation for their prestige in American society. I recommend The China Mirage because it gives a credible Asian historical perspective to many contemporary events in today's world of politics.
-----