Eastern Starlight ~ A British Girl's Memoir of China in the 1930s

Eastern Starlight ~ A British Girl's Memoir of China in the 1930s PDF Author: Jean Elder with Reg Mitchell
Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
ISBN: 168526915X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
Set against the backdrop of Japan's seizure of China's entire northeast, Eastern Starlight, a British Girl's Memoir of China in the 1930s is the second of a trilogy by Jean Elder, born in Hwangkutun village near Mukden, Fengtien Province, Manchuria, in 1912, year of the fall of the last Manchu Dynasty. The story continues as Jean and her mother survive the fearsome night assault on Mukden by the Imperial Japanese Army in September 1931, but are forced by the invaders to leave Manchuria. Jean accepts her brother Jim's offer to settle in Peking, intellectual crossroads and cultural oasis of the Orient, safe from China's expanding civil war and continuing clashes with the Japanese in Jehol. We meet her charismatic friends in L'Hotel de Pekin--Italian Count Galeazzo Ciano and his wife, Edda, daughter of Mussolini; Julius Barr, famed American aviator; the playwright George Bernard Shaw; William Henry Donald, referred to by historians as Donald of China; and the acclaimed March of Time photographer "Newsreel" Wong--and become a part of her intriguing social life with them. Chang Hsiao Liang (the Young Marshal), close to Jean and the Elder family, must take a self-imposed year-long exile from China to save face, after which he will be forgiven for the loss of Manchuria. Jim departs with the Marshal for Europe, and during her own leave of absence, Jean shares with us her straight-from-the-heart impressions of America during the Depression and her fascinating life at sea aboard the great liners of the era including Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic. She must defy cannon-firing brigands and snipers along the Yangtze River in order to reunite with Jim in Hupei Province, where the Marshal has reestablished command of his troops. Jean provides an unvarnished insight into the "anything goes" world of China in the 1930s including her harrowing escape in the dark from a pirate vessel while aboard a passenger steamer in the Yellow Sea. In Hankow, she is a frequent guest of the US Navy aboard USS Luzon (PR-7) and USS Tutuila (PR-4) during the swashbuckling days of inshore gunboat diplomacy in scenes much like those portrayed in the movie, Sand Pebbles. After a whirlwind courtship, she marries the love of her life, US Vice Consul Reginald Mitchell. This is the story of a British girl who grew up in China in the hands of an Amah with the good fortune of gaining dual perspectives of life, Chinese and Western, forever loyal to family and friends, compassionate toward others, true to her values, and humble as a person.

Eastern Starlight ~ A British Girl's Memoir of China in the 1930s

Eastern Starlight ~ A British Girl's Memoir of China in the 1930s PDF Author: Jean Elder with Reg Mitchell
Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
ISBN: 168526915X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
Set against the backdrop of Japan's seizure of China's entire northeast, Eastern Starlight, a British Girl's Memoir of China in the 1930s is the second of a trilogy by Jean Elder, born in Hwangkutun village near Mukden, Fengtien Province, Manchuria, in 1912, year of the fall of the last Manchu Dynasty. The story continues as Jean and her mother survive the fearsome night assault on Mukden by the Imperial Japanese Army in September 1931, but are forced by the invaders to leave Manchuria. Jean accepts her brother Jim's offer to settle in Peking, intellectual crossroads and cultural oasis of the Orient, safe from China's expanding civil war and continuing clashes with the Japanese in Jehol. We meet her charismatic friends in L'Hotel de Pekin--Italian Count Galeazzo Ciano and his wife, Edda, daughter of Mussolini; Julius Barr, famed American aviator; the playwright George Bernard Shaw; William Henry Donald, referred to by historians as Donald of China; and the acclaimed March of Time photographer "Newsreel" Wong--and become a part of her intriguing social life with them. Chang Hsiao Liang (the Young Marshal), close to Jean and the Elder family, must take a self-imposed year-long exile from China to save face, after which he will be forgiven for the loss of Manchuria. Jim departs with the Marshal for Europe, and during her own leave of absence, Jean shares with us her straight-from-the-heart impressions of America during the Depression and her fascinating life at sea aboard the great liners of the era including Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic. She must defy cannon-firing brigands and snipers along the Yangtze River in order to reunite with Jim in Hupei Province, where the Marshal has reestablished command of his troops. Jean provides an unvarnished insight into the "anything goes" world of China in the 1930s including her harrowing escape in the dark from a pirate vessel while aboard a passenger steamer in the Yellow Sea. In Hankow, she is a frequent guest of the US Navy aboard USS Luzon (PR-7) and USS Tutuila (PR-4) during the swashbuckling days of inshore gunboat diplomacy in scenes much like those portrayed in the movie, Sand Pebbles. After a whirlwind courtship, she marries the love of her life, US Vice Consul Reginald Mitchell. This is the story of a British girl who grew up in China in the hands of an Amah with the good fortune of gaining dual perspectives of life, Chinese and Western, forever loyal to family and friends, compassionate toward others, true to her values, and humble as a person.

Eastern Starlight, A British Girl's Memoir as the Wartime Wife of a U.S. Diplomat

Eastern Starlight, A British Girl's Memoir as the Wartime Wife of a U.S. Diplomat PDF Author: Jean Elder With Reg Mitchell
Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
Set against the backdrop of Europe with World War II imminent, Eastern Starlight, a British Girl's Memoir as the Wartime Wife of a U.S. Diplomat, is the third book of a trilogy by Jean Elder, the first two of which are about her China years. We join Jean and her husband, US Vice Consul Reginald Mitchell, as the newlywed couple depart Shanghai for their first post together, Warsaw, Poland, an armed camp surrounded by enemy superpowers and a haven for spies. Jean draws us into the fascinating but fiercely demanding Foreign Service world of international relations face-to-face diplomacy in a lifestyle that few of her peers would ever know at age 23. She shares with us her experiences engaging with Ambassadors and Ministers and their wives and Papal Emissaries at grand diplomatic soirees and equally important, as a diplomatic hostess having to plan and manage teas and tiffins and dinner parties at home. Protocol is a carryover from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and rules about formal attire, such as all but swords and medals (ABSAM) and stringent social etiquette, are followed to the letter. Posted to Dublin, Irish Free State, Jean, becomes friends with Sinead O'Flanagan, wife of IFS President Eamon de Valera, who opposes Britain and intends to keep Ireland neutral in any future war with Nazi Germany. Returning "home side", Reg is assigned the newly created position of State Department Press Spokesman and White House Press Liaison. Through Jean's eyes, we have a colorful close-up view of pre-war Washington, a city of lovely parks, Christmas lights along bustling downtown sidewalks, Beaux Arts theaters, and large department stores. Assigned to our Legation in Port-au-Prince following Pearl Harbor, the respect accorded her by Haiti's mercurial President, Elie Lescot, is invaluable in gaining access to medical attention when Malaria strikes her family. Based on her riveting wartime diary, Jean brings to life for the first time her incredible journey as a mother with two young sons aboard a Liberty ship in an armed convoy having to survive multiple German air attacks at night in the Mediterranean to join her husband at the US Consulate, Port Sa'id, Egypt in 1944. Eastern Starlight is about a remarkable woman of her era, not only because of the life she led, but the kind of person she was-----her moral character and compassion, loyalty to family and friends, willingness to put others above herself, acceptance of people of all walks of life, and courage when in peril. This is a compelling story that will resonate with readers of all ages.

Eastern Starlight, a British Girl's Memoir of Warlord China

Eastern Starlight, a British Girl's Memoir of Warlord China PDF Author: Jean Elder with Reg Mitchell
Publisher: Covenant Books, Incorporated
ISBN: 9781638857242
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Eastern Starlight, a British Girl's Memoir of Warlord China by Jean Elder with Reg Mitchell __________________________________

The Publishers' Circular and General Record of British and Foreign Literature

The Publishers' Circular and General Record of British and Foreign Literature PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bibliography
Languages : en
Pages : 952

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Book Description


Publishers' Circular and Booksellers' Record of British and Foreign Literature

Publishers' Circular and Booksellers' Record of British and Foreign Literature PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bibliography
Languages : en
Pages : 1966

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Book Description


Eastern Starlight

Eastern Starlight PDF Author: Jean Elder
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781638857235
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Set against a backdrop of one of the most explosive and intriguing eras in China's 3,000 year old history, Eastern Starlight, a British Girl's Memoir of Warlord China is the first of a three-volume memoir by Jean Elder, born in Hwangkutun village near Mukden, Fengtien Province, Manchuria in 1912, year of the fall of the last Manchu Dynasty. The powerful warlord, Marshal Chang Tso-lin, rules all of Manchuria with the exception of the South Manchurian Railway, the Japanese Concession granted them following their victory in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. As Manager of the Manchurian segment of the Peking-Mukden Railroad on behalf of the Imperial Railroads of Northern China, her father, Hugh Elder, must on his own achieve the cooperation of Chang Tso-lin and officials of Japan's industrial conglomerate, Mantetsu. Hugh achieves that formidable task and much more-----the friendship, respect, and trust of Chang Tso-lin and his family, the Chinese villagers of Hwangkutun, prominent foreigners of the trans-national community, in particular the Japanese. Among the many rarely awarded medals he was honored to wear as a foreign civilian were Imperial China's Order of the Double Dragon and Imperial Japan's Order of the Sacred Treasure and Order of the Rising Sun, fourteen in all. Jean brings us into her experiences growing up in Mukden and Tientsin in a land resistant to Western culture and the modern world. Her China years come to life in the context of warlord: violence; life-threatening dangers of her immediate environment; friendships that matter most to her; British tutors who are uncompromising in their demands of her; Chinese employees of her parents who become mentors to her; social events in the adult world of her parents; care that she administers to those in need in her village; and the overarching concern of China's tension with the Great Powers over Treaty City Concessions amid rising nationalism Through her eyes, she shares with us the importance of her family growing up in China, the remarkable bond she was honored to have with Chang Tso-lin, himself, who considered her like his own daughter and with his sons, who named her "shiăo jyeh" (little sister); and most interesting of all, her unique relationship with her Chinese Amah by her side from birth to give her council and advice from the Chinese point of view. This is the story of a sensitive and caring young girl who steps into the limelight at an early age, achieves far more than is asked of her, builds loyal and lasting friendships with ease, overcomes daunting setbacks, and finds her own confidence to become an adult before being ready.

The Praetorian STARShip : the untold story of the Combat Talon

The Praetorian STARShip : the untold story of the Combat Talon PDF Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428990437
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 507

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Book Description
Jerry Thigpen's study on the history of the Combat Talon is the first effort to tell the story of this wonderfully capable machine. This weapons system has performed virtually every imaginable tactical event in the spectrum of conflict and by any measure is the most versatile C-130 derivative ever produced. First modified and sent to Southeast Asia (SEA) in 1966 to replace theater unconventional warfare (UW) assets that were limited in both lift capability and speed the Talon I quickly adapted to theater UW tasking including infiltration and resupply and psychological warfare operations into North Vietnam. After spending four years in SEA and maturing into a highly respected UW weapons system the Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) chose the Combat Talon to lead the night low-level raid on the North Vietnamese prison camp at Son Tay. Despite the outcome of the operation the Talon I cemented its reputation as the weapons system of choice for long-range clandestine operations. In the period following the Vietnam War United States Air Force (USAF) special operations gradually lost its political and financial support which was graphically demonstrated in the failed Desert One mission into Iran. Thanks to congressional supporters like Earl Hutto of Florida and Dan Daniel of Virginia funds for aircraft upgrades and military construction projects materialized to meet the ever-increasing threat to our nation. Under the leadership of such committed hard-driven officers as Brenci Uttaro Ferkes Meller and Thigpen the crew force became the most disciplined in our Air Force. It was capable of penetrating hostile airspace at night in a low-level mountainous environment covertly to execute any number of unconventional warfare missions.

My Antonia

My Antonia PDF Author: Willa Cather
Publisher: Gildan Media LLC aka G&D Media
ISBN: 1722525045
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
A haunting tribute to the heroic pioneers who shaped the American Midwest This powerful novel by Willa Cather is considered to be one of her finest works and placed Cather in the forefront of women novelists. It tells the stories of several immigrant families who start new lives in America in rural Nebraska. This powerful tribute to the quiet heroism of those whose struggles and triumphs shaped the American Midwest highlights the role of women pioneers, in particular. Written in the style of a memoir penned by Antonia’s tutor and friend, the book depicts one of the most memorable heroines in American literature, the spirited eldest daughter of a Czech immigrant family, whose calm, quite strength and robust spirit helped her survive the hardships and loneliness of life on the Nebraska prairie. The two form an enduring bond and through his chronicle, we watch Antonia shape the land while dealing with poverty, treachery, and tragedy. “No romantic novel ever written in America...is one half so beautiful as My Ántonia.” -H. L. Mencken Willa Cather (1873–1947) was an American writer best known for her novels of the Plains and for One of Ours, a novel set in World War I, for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1923. She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1943 and received the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1944, an award given once a decade for an author's total accomplishments. By the time of her death she had written twelve novels, five books of short stories, and a collection of poetry.

The World Between Two Covers: Reading the Globe

The World Between Two Covers: Reading the Globe PDF Author: Ann Morgan
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1631490680
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
A beguiling exploration of the joys of reading across boundaries, inspired by the author’s year-long journey through a book from every country. Ann Morgan writes in the opening of this delightful book, "I glanced up at my bookshelves, the proud record of more than twenty years of reading, and found a host of English and North American greats starting down at me…I had barely touched a work by a foreign language author in years…The awful truth dawned. I was a literary xenophobe." Prompted to read a book translated into English from each of the world's 195 UN-recognized countries (plus Taiwan and one extra), Ann sought out classics, folktales, current favorites and commercial triumphs, novels, short stories, memoirs, and countless mixtures of all these things. The world between two covers, the world to which Ann introduces us with affection and no small measure of wit, is a world rich in the kind of narratives that engage us passionately: we meet an irreverent junk food–obsessed heroine in Kuwait, an explorer from Togo who spent years among the Inuit in Greenland, and a former child circus performer of Roma background seeking sanctuary in Switzerland. Ann's quest explores issues that affect us all: personal, political, national, and global. What is cultural heritage? How do we define national identity? Is it possible to overcome censorship and propaganda? And, above all, why and how should we read from other cultures, languages, and traditions? Illuminating and inspiring, The World Between Two Covers welcomes us into the global community of stories.

Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present

Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present PDF Author: Amy Berke
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 743

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Book Description
In 'Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present,' editors Amy Berke, Robert Bleil, Jordan Cofer, and Doug Davis curate a comprehensive exploration of American literary evolution from the aftermath of the Civil War to contemporary times. This anthology expertly weaves a tapestry of diverse literary styles and themes, encapsulating the dynamic shifts in American culture and identity. Through carefully selected works, the collection illustrates the rich dialogue between historical contexts and literary expression, showcasing seminal pieces that have shaped American literatures landscape. The diversity of periods and perspectives offers readers a panoramic view of the countrys literary heritage, making it a significant compilation for scholars and enthusiasts alike. The contributing authors and editors, each with robust backgrounds in American literature, bring to the table a depth of scholarly expertise and a passion for the subject matter. Their collective work reflects a broad spectrum of American life and thought, aligning with major historical and cultural movements from Realism and Modernism to Postmodernism. This anthology not only marks the evolution of American literary forms and themes but also mirrors the nations complex history and diverse narratives. 'Writing the Nation' is an essential volume for those who wish to delve into the heart of American literature. It offers readers a unique opportunity to experience the multitude of voices, styles, and themes that have shaped the countrys literary tradition. This collection represents an invaluable resource for students, scholars, and anyone interested in the development of American literature and the cultural forces that have influenced it. The anthology invites readers to engage with the vibrant dialogue among its pages, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of the United States' literary and cultural heritage.