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| 2009/10/16 11:28:49瀏覽1979｜回應12｜推薦55 | |
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The Last Empress--Madame Chiang Kai-Shek and the birth of the Modern China By Hannah Pakula 
女婿工作的電視臺常常收到公關書, 並不是每一本都引起注意,也不是每本書都有幸被拿來作專訪或專題報導. 挑剩下來的書, 歡迎同仁帶回去閱讀. 今天這位東方奇女子的傳記, 雖然沒有受到電視臺的青睞, 卻讓女婿興高采烈地把它抱了回來: "媽! 我想, 您一定對它有興趣!" 坊間有關蔣宋美齡的中英文書很多, 新聞報導, 正史野史, 褒貶由之, 一個與中國近代歷史相結合的公眾人物, 這是無法避免的. 蔣夫人於2003年去世, 我陸續讀過許多由她生前接觸過的人寫的紀念文章(也有揭秘者), 各人目的不同, 我不予評論. 這本書的好處是作者以傳記方式帶人進入中國推翻滿清以後的現代歷史, 有充分的史料依據, 有流暢的說故事技巧, 她也很細心地編入許多眾所周知的傳聞, 猛看起來有些殘忍, 細想一下也不得不認同, 事情本來就是如此啊! 帕庫拉(Pakula)女士的故事, 從中國海南的一個漁村寫起, 交代美齡的父親如何自幼被送到海外打工謀生, 轉而信奉基督, 接受教育, 返國傳教, 又把女兒們送到美國讀書, 展開宋家與民國歷史綿密結合的篇章. 書中提到的中, 外人物, 具有相當份量的一百二十多位, 都有簡介. 書中添加了一百多年來中國內部以及世界環境的描述, 對於在海外居住多年, 思想比較開放, 卻又曾經採訪過蔣夫人新聞的我來說, 的確非常具有吸引力! 請大家先讓我慢慢看, 下星期再作讀書報告. 以下是作者與出版商的文宣, 隨便看看罷. 附錄: With the beautiful, powerful, and sexy Madame Chiang Kai-shek at the center of one of the great dramas of the twentieth century, this is the story of the founding of modern China, starting with a revolution that swept away more than 2,000 years of monarchy, followed by World War II, and ending in the eventual loss to the Communists and exile in Taiwan. An epic historical tapestry, this wonderfully wrought narrative brings to life what Americans should know about China -- the superpower we are inextricably linked with -- the way its people think and their code of behavior, both vastly different from our own. The story revolves around this fascinating woman and her family: her father, a peasant who raised himself into Shanghai society and sent his daughters to college in America in a day when Chinese women were kept purposefully uneducated; her mother, an unlikely Methodist from the Mandarin class; her husband, a military leader and dogmatic warlord; her sisters, one married to Sun Yat-sen, the George Washington of China, the other to a seventy-fifth lineal descendant of Confucius; and her older brother, a financial genius. This was the Soong family, which, along with their partners in marriage, was largely responsible for dragging China into the twentieth century. Brilliantly narrated, this fierce and bloody drama also includes U.S. Army General Joseph Stilwell; Claire Chennault, head of the Flying Tigers; Communist leaders Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai; murderous warlords; journalists Henry Luce, Theodore White, and Edgar Snow; and the unfortunate State Department officials who would be purged for predicting (correctly) the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War. As the representative of an Eastern ally in the West, Madame Chiang was befriended -- before being rejected -- by the Roosevelts, stayed in the White House for long periods during World War II, and charmed the U.S. Congress into giving China billions of dollars. Although she was dubbed the Dragon Lady in some quarters, she was an icon to her people and is certainly one of the most remarkable women of the twentieth century. Praise "This is a triumph of both research and storytelling. Madame Chiang Kai-shek led an amazing life filled with fascinating people as she helped bring China into the modern age. This brilliant narrative provides a wonderful insight into why China is the way it is today." -- Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein "The tale of Soong May-ling, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's American-educated wife, is epic in scope. And in The Last Empress, which follows the narrative of her life from the end of the Qing Dynasty through her exile in Taiwan and the reign of Mao Tse-Tung, Hannah Pakula brings vividly to life the tormented odyssey of China during the twentieth century and the enthralling life story of this singular woman in a wonderfully accessible way." -- Orville Schell, Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society "The Last Empress is the definitive biography of Soong May-ling, who came to fame as Madame Chiang Kai-shek. A rare combination of brilliant writing and insightful scholarship, it captures the complexities of an extraordinary woman in a turbulent time, who influenced the course of China's history in the twentieth century." -- Henry A. Kissinger "Like her imperial predecessor the Dowager Empress, the last ruler of the Manchu dynasty, Soong May-ling came out of nowhere to become role model, figurehead, and power-broker in twentieth-century China. This is rip-roaring true romance told with zip, clarity, and panache." -- Hilary Spurling, author of Matisse the MasterScroll upScroll down |
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