Freelance Revolutionist: Agnes Smedley in Wartime China, 1937–1941. Issue 2 (3rd April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mayers, David
• Is Part Of: Diplomacy and statecraft. Volume 33:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 233
• Page End: 256
• Publication Date: 2022-04-03
• Subjects: Diplomacy -- Periodicals; World politics -- Periodicals; International relations -- Periodicals; 327
• DOI: 10.1080/09592296.2022.2062121
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-2296

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Agnes Smedley is one of the more fascinating figures in the history of Sino-American relations. Albeit once the subject of two excellent biographies, and alternately celebrated and reviled in the United States, she nevertheless remains a relatively obscure figure. As the Sino-American relationship now occupies a crucial place in international politics, it is worthwhile to revisit the career of this ardent feminist and political pilgrim. Amidst the maelstrom of revolution and Sino-Japanese war, she professed faith in a better future. Both her perspicacity and illusions were striking, as she sought to discern – and explain to Americans – the churning reality of her preferred homeland, China. Questions confronting Smedley still linger in the twenty-first century as Beijing and Washington try to accommodate each other's ambitions and rival conceptions of human society.