As a correspondent for the International News Service, the Associated Press, and later for the New York Times, Seymour Topping documented on the ground the tumultuous events during the Chinese Civil War, the French Indochina War, and the American retreat from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. In this riveting narrative, Topping chronicles his extraordinary experiences covering the East-West struggle in Asia and Eastern Europe from1946 into the 1980s, taking us beyond conventional historical accounts to provide a fresh, first-hand perspective on American triumphs and defeats during the Cold War era.


Seymour Topping retired from the New York Times in 1993 after service as foreign editor and as managing editor for ten years. He served until 2002 as administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes and is now emeritus professor of international journalism at Columbia University. His previous books include Journey Between Two Chinas; The Peking Letter: A Novel of the Chinese Civil War; and Fatal Crossroads: A Novel of Vietnam 1945.