Red Star Over China by Edgar Snow Victor Gollancz
An insider's account of the rise of the Chinese communist army, Red Star Over China has been called the 'scoop of the century' - and its angle is undeniably fascinating.
In the landmark memoir, upstart journalist Edgar Snow documents the months he spent embedded with China's budding Red Army in the remote hills of northwest Shaanxi province during the indecisive civil war in the summer and autumn of 1936.
Just like Nate Thayer, the American journalist who later tracked down Pol Pot, Snow secured access to Mao Zedong, among other birth-of-communism bigwigs.
The leadership line-up includes the future first premier of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai; army commander Peng Dehuai; communist military leader Lin Biao; and another military bigshot He Long, who launched his revolutionary career by attacking a government tax assessor with a cleaver.
Snow sheds light on the first-generation leaders' characters and their plight in the Long March, the 1934-1935 retreat from pursuing Nationalist troops. In its day, one reason that Snow's account made waves was the scarcity of reliable reports about 'red bandit'' exploits. Snow's privileged access and outwardly independent status invested his reports with credibility - or the veneer of it.