Book Review: Far East: Communist Strategies in Asia
| Published date | 01 December 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206401900434 |
| Author | Charles B. McLane |
| Date | 01 December 1964 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEwS
587
At
least
two
essays
in
the
collection,
those
by
George
Kennan
and
Adam
Ulam,
were previously
published
elsewhere,
while
some
other
papers
listed
in
the programme
of
the
conference
and
bearing
promising
titles
are
omitted,
which
is
rather
puzzling.
Quite
apart
from
the
foregoing
questions
of
form
and
organization,
the
symposium
fails
to
convey
any
first-hand,
personal
knowledge
of
Soviet
historians,
even
though
the
individual,
human
problems
of
these
scholars
concern
many
of
the
contributors
to
this
collection.
Actually
the
sense
of
abstraction or
remoteness
that
pervades
these
discussions
of Soviet
historians
is
no
longer
necessary,
for
there
are
many
western
students
of
history,
including
quite
a
few
younger
Americans,
who
have
had
significant
personal
contact
with
Soviet
scholars
in
various
branches
of
history.
Why
was
special
care
not
taken
to
include
papers
by
such
persons?
Contemporary
History
in
the
Soviet
Mirror
does
contain
valuable
passages
on some
rather
diverse subjects, which
interested
readers
can
probably
find
by
selective use
of
the
table
of contents.
But
as
an
entity
it
is
a
disappointing
book.
University
of
Toronto
ROBERT
H.
McNEAL
Far
East
COMMUNIST
STRATEGIES
IN
AsLA.
A
Comparative
Analysis
of
Govern-
ments
and
Parties.
Edited
by
A.
Doak
Barnett.
1963.
(New
York:
Frederick
A.
Praeger.
ix,
293pp.
$6.50)
The
chapters
in
the
volume
under
review
were
originally
prepared
for
a
special
panel
on
Asian Communism held
during
the
annual meet-
ing
of
the
Association
of
Asian
Studies
in
1962.
The
course
of
Asian
Communism
has
outpaced
the
contributions
included
in
the
volume
(despite
updating
in some
cases
to
the
Spring
of
1963),
but
the
quality
of
the
background
material
presented
and
the
distinction
of
the
con-
tributors
ensure
the
book
a
permanent
place
in
the
growing
literature
on
this
subject.
Following
a
brief
introduction
by
the
editor,
two
well-recognized
authorities
on
Sino-Soviet
affairs,
Donald
S.
Zagoria
and
Robert
C.
North,
present
contrasting
appraisals
of
the
relevance
and
compara-
tive
significance
of
the
Russian
and
Chinese
"models"
for
Asian
Com-
munist
movements
in
general.
Each,
drawing
largely
on
earlier
re-
search,
accents
the
growing
competition
of
the
two
"models"
in
Asia.
Three authors
then
deal
with
Communist
parties
out
of
power.
Paul
F.
Langer
brings
the
complex
story
of
Japanese
Communism
up
to
date,
reorganizing
in
a helpful
way
much
material
he
has
dealt
with
previously.
Harry
Gelman,
a
relative
new-comer
among
students
of
Indian
Communism,
gives
a
definitive
analysis
of
the
tortuous
course
of
the
CPI
through
the
trials
of
the
Sino-Soviet
border
episode in
October
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