Seagrave byl americký autor, investigativní novinář a historik, který se zvláště zaměřoval na témata Dálného východu. Jeho práce odhalují skryté politické a ekonomické síly formující region. Seagrave zkoumá komplexní vztahy mezi Východem a Západem s pronikavým pohledem na historické události a jejich dlouhodobé dopady. Čtenáři se dočkají poutavého vyprávění, které osvětluje minulost i současnost.
The book explores the intricate dynamics of power and influence in Chinese history, highlighting the roles of triads, syndicates, and various leaders from merchants to emperors. Through a captivating narrative, it illustrates how historical strategies have shaped contemporary practices, serving as a cautionary tale about their ongoing effectiveness. Seagrave's work offers a deep dive into the interplay of these elements, revealing the enduring nature of Chinese tactics in both historical and modern contexts.
In 1945, US intelligence officers in Manila discovered that the Japanese had hidden large quantities of gold bullion and other looted treasure in the Philippines. President Truman decided to recover the gold but to keep its riches secret. These, combined with Japanese treasure recovered during the US occupation, and with recovered Nazi loot, would create a worldwide American political action fund to fight communism. This ‘Black Gold’ gave Washington virtually limitless, unaccountable funds, providing an asset base to reinforce the treasuries of America’s allies, to bribe political and military leaders, and to manipulate elections in foreign countries for more than fifty years.
Most Westerners will know next to nothing of the Yamato, Japan's current imperial family. Neither do most Japanese. Much of Japan's modern history has been erased from postwar textbooks, and a whole generation has grown up knowing nothing of the Rape of Nanking, Pearl Harbor, the Second World War death camps, and countless other atrocities. All that remains are Hiroshima and Nagasaki, symbols of Japan's eternal innocence. Sterling and Peggy Seagrave correct these falsehoods and expose the collusion and corruption that have been at the heart of the postwar Japanese economic miracle. And far from being a symbolic reminder of an ancient past, as the Japanese royal family is sometimes portrayed, the authors point out that it has been at the epicenter of venality and cruelty. Prince Chichibu, Emperor Hirohito's brother, turns out to have masterminded Golden Lily, the systematic looting of every country Japan occupied in the prewar years. Prince Yasuhiko was the brains behind the Rape of Nanking. And dear old Hirohito was so hands-on during the war that he could have halted Pearl Harbor. Moreover, the royal family was so comfortably in bed with the zaibatsu, the corporate ruling elite, that it made a fortune out of the war while the rest of the nation starved. That none of this has come out before is only partly due to Japanese revisionism. We, too, have to share the blame. We had the evidence to try some of the imperial family as war criminals, but we chose not to. The Seagraves' book makes uncomfortable reading for all concerned. --John Crace, Amazon.co.uk
Descendants of a Chinese runaway who grew up in America under the protection of the Methodist church and who returned to his homeland to make a fortune selling Western bibles, the Soong family became the principal rulers of China during the first half of the 20th century and won the support of the American government and press for many decades. Sterling Seagrave describes for the first time the intricate and fascinating rise to power of Charlie Soong and his children: daughters Ai-ling, who married one of China's richest men, H.H. Kung; Ching-ling, who married Sun Yat-sen, leader of China's republican revolution; May-ling, who married Chiang Kai-shek, the autocratic ruler of Nationalist China whose ties to the Shanghai underworld the author has documented; and son T.V. Soong, who at various times served as Chiang's economic minister, foreign minister and premier. How all of the Soongs except Ching-ling amassed enormous wealth while millions of Chinese starved or were killed in the long fight against Japan and the equally bitter struggle with Mao are just some of the revelations in this explosive book.
Morde, Intrigen, Perversionen bestimmten, so die öffentliche Meinung, die Regierungszeit der letzten Kaiserin Chinas. Der Asienexperte Sterling Seagrave zeichnet in dieser Biographie ein wesentlich differenzierteres Bild Tzu-Hsis. Er schildert eine Frau, die verzweifelt versuchte, sich gegen die westlichen Kolonisatoren zur Wehr zu setzen und den verderblichen Einfluß der Mandschufürsten einzudämmen.
