Battle Hymn Of China

Light on China

by Agnes Smedley

{ 15.34 x 23.59 cms} Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden Leaf Printing on round Spine (extra customization on request like complete leather, Golden Screen printing in Front, Color Leather, Colored book etc.) Reprinted in 2018 with the help of original edition published long back [1944]. This book is printed in black & white, sewing binding for longer life, printed on high quality Paper, re-sized as per Current standards, professionally processed without changing its contents. As these are old books, we processed each page manually and make them readable but in some cases some pages which are blur or missing or black spots. If it is multi volume set, then it is only single volume, if you wish to order a specific or all the volumes you may contact us. We expect that you will understand our compulsion in these books. We found this book important for the readers who want to know more about our old treasure so we brought it back to the shelves. Hope you will like it and give your comments and suggestions. - English, Pages 369. EXTRA 10 DAYS APART FROM THE NORMAL SHIPPING PERIOD WILL BE REQUIRED FOR LEATHER BOUND BOOKS. COMPLETE LEATHER WILL COST YOU EXTRA US$ 25 APART FROM THE LEATHER BOUND BOOKS. {FOLIO EDITION IS ALSO AVAILABLE.} Complete Battle Hymn Of China 1944 Agnes Smedley

Genres: China, Nonfiction, History

371 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

Agnes Smedley (February 23, 1892 – May 6, 1950) was an American journalist and writer. Well known for her semi-autobiographical novel Daughter of Earth, she also known for her sympathetic chronicling of the Communist forces in the Chinese Civil War. During World War I, she worked in the United States for the independence of India from the United Kingdom, receiving financial support from the government of Germany, and for many years worked for or with the Comintern, frequently in an espionage capacity. As the lover of Soviet super spy Richard Sorge in Shanghai in the early 1930s, she helped get him established for his final and greatest work as spymaster in Tokyo. She also worked on behalf of various causes including women's rights, birth control, and children's welfare. Smedley wrote six books, including a novel, reportage, and a biography of the Chinese general Zhu De, reported for newspapers such as New York Call, Frankfurter Zeitung and Manchester Guardian, and wrote for periodicals such as the Modern Review, New Masses, Asia, New Republic, and Nation.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Battle Hymn of China by Agnes Smedley is a truly astonishing book. It starts with her early life in the US and then living in Germany. As a young woman Agnes leaves the US on a steamer to Europe to try and help India's struggle for independence. She lives in Germany as the partner of an Indian radical and revolutionary and eventually leaves him and heads to China as a starting point of a trip to India, she never arrives in India but spends the next thirteen years living in China, from 1929 to 1941. She starts in Shanghai, moves to Sian (xian) where she lives with the communists for a time, and then spends a great deal of time on the battlefronts, following guerrilla armies and reporting and working as a nurse in the army camps. Even at over 500 pages it still feels like there's a lot she's not saying which reinforces my desire to read everything she's written. What is amazing about this book is that it tells a very human tale of the civil war and the war in China. It's just astonishing how long the war lasts and how many cities and lives are ruined. In many ways Smedley's trip is a descent, she lives dangerously visiting the front, living with the army which seriously impacts her health. The other book I read which looked at her writings about women almost changed her perspective. She definitely challenged the sexist beliefs of those around her, and as a woman being able to travel with different armies alone in a foreign country was rather amazing. But she came across as more of an androgynous figure, one who had no time for love or romance when there was so much death and destruction around her. In the end she had to leave China because she was dying and had to go to Hong Kong to recover, there she was forbidden to speak about her experiences, and was unable to return to China so went back to the US. There she found herself engulfed in a world of consumerism and unable to reconcile the life with the one she had lived with the communists and travelling with the armies. The book was written as snippets and travels throughout her time in China. It included many detailed descriptions about the people she came across so that even though most of them died, you had an idea about their lives. I've read many books about this time period of China, but this was the one that took you closest to seeing the day to day of life during this time. I feel like any review of this book can't really do it justice. It was dark, gritty and harsh, it brought home the horrors of war but also the horrors of poverty and disease. It was also filled with humanity, the good and the bad. It told a side of the story not usually told, it reminded me a little of Channel 4s dispatches, though those reporters seem to only visit for a few weeks and Agnes Smedley stayed for years and years.

[Willow Holiday · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book!
absolutely incredible and mind blowing look at the liberation of china in the 1930s and an american woman who manages to find herself in the middle

[Luke]

First published 1944.