China’s War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival

Rana Mitter

Allen Lane, 480 pages, £ 12.49

Different countries give different opening dates for World War II, but perhaps the most compelling is 1937, when the ‘Marco Polo Bridge Incident’ plunged China and Japan into a conflict of extraordinary duration and ferocity—a war which would result in many millions of deaths and completely reshape East Asia. With great vividness and narrative drive, Mitter’s new book draws on a huge range of new sources to recreate this terrible conflict.