Barbara Tuchman (1912-1989) was the winner of many awards because of the quality of the books she wrote. Her works are important, (especially as the world has only one superpower until China, using all of its inefficient industries, joins in with the US, or should that be India, after all the good jobs are outsourced from Bushland?), because of the continual relevance of the topics she chose.

This page starts off with an image of a lady on a donkey, dated 1935, and then shows General Stillwell with the blinkered Kuomintang boss. Next are maps of Burma in 1942, which are of interest for those of you interested in the WWII exploits of certain men and women. My own interest, of course, is of the warriors Slim and Stilwell and of the history of the region, including India.

Here we are in China: click on all of the images for the larger version.

Now we flit to Burma: first image is a "colour" map, and the second, much larger in size, is a drawing, both gifs. And the same for the upper Burma images which are adjacent. Not perfect, but usable.

Some of Stilwell's adventures during WWII: the first three during 1942, the walk out in Burma (Myanmar to you), unfortunately you will have to read the book to find out what it was all about. Not all the illustrations in the hardback edition are found in the paperback.

Above left hand photograph shows the guilty parties regarding the war in China and environs. The information for the lower image on the right hand gif is given on the left hand. Something about the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, what?

Stilwell and Mountbatten: opposing temperaments, differing skills, both of great value to their countries and to the planning of the campaigns. The US policy regarding communism did not help. The Red forces were far more efficient than those run by the self-serving Kuomintang boss, Chiang Kai-shek.

Books written by Barbara Tuchman that are well worth reading, include the following:

Bible and Sword: the British in Israel, or the relationship of the British with Palestine: take one's pick.
A Distant Mirror: the 14th Century, which includes the story of how some of the Balkan people, Serbs actually, think a defeat is worth
remembering as a success for the following seven centuries, simply because a dying man stabbed the victor. (Battle of Kossovo, 1389)
The Guns of August: the starting month of WWI, and the horror of it all.
The March of Folly: how mankind never stops screwing up.
Practicing History: stories about and instructions on the writing of history.
The Proud Tower: Europe in the 1890s, especially the main protagonists, and including the idiot nephew of Edward VII, and what led to two world wars.
Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45: a brilliant exposition of an underrated man and how bureaucrats and fools upset the US diplomatic endeavours in China, to such effect that matters are still unresolved.
The Zimmerman Telegram: How the USA became involved in WWI, finally.

Most of these, and her other books, are commonly available in second hand bookstores in hard and paperback editions.

AndThen