This book fills a special need. The two decades of Nationalist rule on the mainland (1927–1949) were among the most critical in recent Chinese history. During those years, the Nationalist Party, led by Chiang Kai-shek, endeavored to consolidate its revolutionary victory of 1927–1928 and to build a nation based on Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People. At the same time, the revolutionary party led by Mao Tse-tung, drawing inspiration from the principles of Marx and Lenin, grew from a seemingly insignificant guerrilla band in the rural hinterland of Kiangsi Province into a military and political force that shook not only China but the world.

Yet none of the existing college textbooks on modern China presents the events of this momentous period comprehensively or on the basis of the most recent scholarly literature. Until the 1970s, most of what Westerners knew about the Nationalist period was gleaned from such journalistic accounts as Edgar Snow's Red star over China, Theodore White and Annalee Jacoby's Thunder out of China, and Jack Belden's China shakes the world – wonderful books that can still be read with excitement and benefit. In recent years, however, academic historians have been turning their attention to these critical decades. As a result, a spate of books, articles, and doctoral dissertations have substantially modified our understanding of the Nationalist period, shedding new light on the character of Nationalist rule and on the sources of the Communists' revolutionary victory.