Customer Reviews
Great book dealing with post-WWII China and Russia - By: , 02 Mar 1999 
In an overall sense, this is an outstanding book. Uncertain Partners deals with many of the issues surrounding the nations of China, Russia, & Korea immediately following WWII. The authors, a Russian presidential advisor & two Stanford political scientists, reveal & report about many of the confidential documents of Stalin, Mao Zedong & Kim Il Sung. These documents, never before seen previous to the 1990s, describe the inner-workings & deep-seeded relationship between Stalin & Mao. In many ways, Stalin & Mao were uncertain partners. The authors makes the reader understand that Mao was simply a puppet of Stalin & his form dictatorial communism. For a greater understanding of this partnership, I would undoubtably recommend this book. Concerning the topic of Russian & Chinese relations, this book has to have profound implications. With that in mind, it's a must read.
An excellent review of NE Asian relationships - By: , 17 Jul 1998 
Busy people need to know the right things to read.
This book is compelling & relevant to current issues as Russia, China, Japan, North Korea, Taiwan, & the US are jockeying for positionin Asiain the post Cold War years. Lewis & his co-authors examine the relationships, strategy & concerns of the key players, particularly Stalin, Mao & Kim during the post WWII years through the beginning of the Korean War. The authors, using documents made available recently from Russia & China, examinein detail these interactions, the negotiations of a new Sino-Soviet treaty & the flow of events which resultedin the particular balance between those powersin the Korean War. However, they also provide an excellent Summary chapter which tracks their key observations.
The events discussedin this book are 50 yearsin the past. However, the political orientation of that region, originally achievedin a kind of local balance, has frozen while the major players have ev! ! olved into significantly different entities & all of the personalities have changed. This means that the strain on the relationships of the NE Asian region is becoming increasingly acute as the pressures for realignment to a new balance increase.
The exercise of tracking the interplay of these strategists during the dynamic developments of the late 1940s, their concerns & priorities, sharply orients the mind to the delicate issues of balance which still exist. I recommend this book, & particularly the Summary chapter, to those who need to have the underpinnings of the NE Asian regionin mind during the coming years of dynamic re orientation of the region. A clear understanding by policy makers might even resultin a new balance which favors peace, democracy, stability & productive market relationships while respecting & responding to the immovable demands of territorial sovereignty, & national security required by each of these entities.
Gary Stradling
