Perlmutter, D: Picturing China in the American Press

Picturing China in the American Press juxtaposes what the ordinary American news reader was shown visually inTime Magazine between 1949 and 1973 with contemporary perspectives on the behind-the-scenes history of the period. Time Magazine is an especially fruitful source for such a visual-historical contrast and comparison because it was China-centric, founded and run by Henry Luce, a man who loved China and was commensurably obsessed with winning China to democracy and Western influence. Picturing China examines in detail major events (the Korean War and Nixon's trip to China), less considerable occurrences (shellings of Straits islands and diplomatic flaps), great personages (Chairman Mao and Henry Kissinger), and the common people and common life of China as seen through the lenses and described by the pens of American reporters, artists, photographers, and editors. Picturing China in the American Press is of great interest to both scholars of communications, Chinese history, China Studies, and journalists.

Picturing China is the first postDCold War intensive study comparing and contrasting press coverage of an important period in East-West relations to the 'what we know now' of archival history. The book reveals the many instances when the American public and journalists, as well as our government, floundered in their attempt to understand China and so serves as a cautionary tale for all those who wish to comprehend the complexities of other nations and other peoples via journalism's 'first draft of history.'

Chapter 1 Prologue: Translating Images of China Chapter 2 Opening China: War and Revolution Chapter 3 The Korean War, 1950-1953 Chapter 4 Armageddon For Jinmen?: The Taiwan Straits of Crises, 1954-1959 Chapter 5 Interlude and Stasis, 1960-1967 Chapter 6 Journey to China, 1968-1973