Reading Theodore H. White
Many students of history are familiar with White's historical accounts of General Stilwell in China, but his personal account of history as he experienced it may be new to some. Theodore White's "In Search of History" starts with his family's poverty in the United States. As immigrants, they worked long hours and studied to make progress up the financial ladder. His recollections of post-World War II Europe and in particular the Marshall Plan and the rebuilding of Europe are essential reading. Some important statements: "Neither Clay nor MacArthur nor Hoffman nor Harriman nor George Marshall nor Dean Acheson nor Milton Katz could have envisioned that what they tried to do in the reconstruction of Europe and Asia would result in the rise of Germany and Japan--and that thirty years later, our two former enemies would threaten, like giant pincer claws, America's industrial supremecacy in the new trading world we had tried to open to all: ." page 3