The Battle for China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945. Stanford

Peattie, Mark R., Edward J. Drea, and Van De Ven Hans J. The Battle for China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 2011. Print.

I found this book by searching “First Sino-Japanese War”. The reason I chose this particular book is because of the variety of sources it contains, as well as the amount of detail it conveys on the subject. Now, the book itself didn’t catch my eye. The book looks pretty bland, with just being a gray hardcover with no paperback attached. However, on the Library one search tool the book was far more ascetically pleasing. On the top, the cover has Chinese soldiers entrenched and arming against an impending attack, while on the bottom you see a column of Japanese soldiers marching and being lead by what appears to be at captain. Now the reason I believe this book is relevant to our class is because we have just recently discussed how Japan was a new rising empire in the late 19th century and we are currently about to be discussing the events that led to and what took place during World War II.  This books is an extremely detailed analysis of military, political, social history of the Sino-Japanese war. It examines the causes of the war as well as major campaigns, strategies, and outcomes that affected the war. This book does not have a specific argument, its purpose is to give a detailed account of the war, so detailed that it gives insight on the logistics of nearly every battle, i.e weapons, equipment, and the amount of men on each side. The book also includes maps, journals, and photographs from both sides of the fighting that I feel add the the incredible amount of insight it gives on the war.