Forgotten Ally
Popular History Intermediate Secondary Sources
🌍 Multi-Perspective
China's eight-year war against Japan — fourteen million dead, and a story the West wrote out of the war.
The Verdict
The standard modern history of the war's least-known major theatre, and a key to understanding China today. Rana Mitter tells the story of China's eight-year war against Japan — a struggle that cost perhaps fourteen million lives, tied down a million Japanese troops, and was all but written out of the Western account of the war. He restores it with clarity and balance, navigating the fraught politics of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists, Mao's Communists, and a population caught between. Indispensable for seeing the war whole.
Who Should Read It
Read it if you want
- The Chinese theatre of WWII in full
- Readers who want the war's missing front
- Context for modern China's national memory
- Balanced political and military history
Look elsewhere if you want
- A Pacific-island or naval focus
- Readers wanting a short overview
- Those uninterested in the political dimension
Why We Rated It 4.5
Historical Context
Forgotten Ally covers China's war against Japan from 1937 to 1945, including the immense civilian toll and the rivalry between Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists and Mao's Communists. Published in 2013 (in the UK as China's War with Japan), it is among the standard modern English-language accounts of the theatre.
Events Covered
Editions & Reading Notes
Houghton Mifflin / Allen Lane (2013)First edition; UK title China's War with Japan.
PaperbackThe standard reading edition.
Read It Alongside
The Rape of Nanking Iris Chang · 1997 · ★ 4.4
Popular History 
Eagle Against the Sun Ronald Spector · 1985 · ★ 4.4
Popular History 
Empire of the Sun J.G. Ballard · 1984 · ★ 4.5
Historical Fiction Collector's Corner
A recent title; inexpensive and easy to find. Check current listings. → Check listings on AbeBooks.
Where to Buy
ISBN: 978-0544334502
Read This Against
The same events seen from a different vantage point. The fullest understanding often lives in the space between accounts that don't agree.
Empire of the Sun J.G. Ballard · 1984 · British
Historical Fiction Other Books About the Same Events
The Rape of Nanking Iris Chang · 1997
Popular History Empire of the Sun J.G. Ballard · 1984
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Why is China called the 'forgotten ally'?
- Because its enormous, costly war against Japan was largely written out of the Western narrative of WWII, despite tying down huge Japanese forces.
- Is it the same book as China's War with Japan?
- Yes — that is the UK title for the same work.