Golden Inches: The China Memoir of Grace Service

by John S. Service, Grace Service

"(An) engrossing memoir .... To turn everything recorded here--births, an infant death, family uprootings, civil turmoil, maintaining an American household in the interior of China--into gold requires an alchemy that only a beautiful, strong-minded, witty and loving wife and mother can hold the secret to."--John Espey, Washington Post Book World  "A wonderful, sad, moving memoir by an indomitable American . . . Golden Inches not only gives many fascinating glimpses of historical events; more important, it shows us what it meant to live through those events and deal with them without rancor, resentment or facile anger and enthusiasm."--Tracy B. Strong, New York Times Book Review  "This closely observed portrait of living in isolated missionary communities and treaty ports, against the background of one of the most turbulent periods of twentieth-century Chinese history, is an important document. It is also a moving story of one family's obsessive and destructive love affair with China."--Tiffany Brown, Times Literary Supplement

Genres: History, China

375 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

John Stewart Service was an American diplomat who served in the Foreign Service in China prior to and during World War II. Considered one of the State Department's "China Hands," he was an important member of the Dixie Mission to Yan'an. Service correctly predicted that the Communists would defeat the Nationalists in a civil war, but he and other diplomats were blamed for the "loss" of China in the domestic political turmoil following the 1949 Communist triumph in China. Near the end of World War II, Service was arrested in the Amerasia Affair in 1945. The prosecution sought an indictment for espionage, but a federal grand jury unanimously declined to indict him. In 1950 U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy launched an attack against Service, which led to investigations of the reports Service wrote while stationed in China. Secretary of State Dean Acheson fired Service, but in 1957 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered his reinstatement in a unanimous decision, finding that Acheson's action had been illegal because "it violated Regulations of the Department of State which were binding on the Secretary. (Source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grace Service's memoir of her years in China. Very easy to read as she has good voice and an interesting story. This family was with the YMCA