The Stilwell Papers

Book excerpt: His American men worshipped him. The Chinese armies he trained and led would have gone through hell for him. But the politicians, both in Chunk-King and Washington, hated his guts. And after two and a half years of bitter struggle in the China-Burma-India theater during the dog days of World War II, General Joseph W. Stilwell was abruptly relived of his command and brought back to the U.S. in an "atmosphere of crime."From the time he flew to the Far East to assume command of the handful of American forces in the C.B.I. theater until his recall in 1944, General Stilwell was engaged in one of the most complex, difficult, and confidential operations in American military history The Stilwell Papers-brilliantly edited and arranged by Theodore H. White, who knew the General in the C.B.I. theater-record Stilwell's on-the-spot account of the people and events of the moment with the salty directness of a man obligated to please no one but himself.But this book is not only an account of the various glories and frustrations of war; it is also the autobiography of one of America's greatest World War II commanders. General Stilwell was a strong, courageous man, deeply devoted to his country and charged with crucial responsibilities; and The Stilwell Papers is the deeply moving and striking self-portrait of that man and his struggle.