By Michelle Moskowitz
Sentinel Correspondent
“Four propellers whirled on their engines as the silver Skymaster taxied to a stop. Though President Truman had once used the modified C-54 as his personal plane, it was not a particularly majestic craft: ten tons of aluminum and steel riveted into the shape of a porpoise. Near the runway, several dozen well-wishers huddled in the cold – a respectful reception, but small. Workers pushed a ramp across the tarmac; a cluster of reporters hustled toward the stairs. Just after ten a.m., the plane’s hatch swiveled open and a petite Chinese woman ducked out. As she descended the steps, in the December chill of the Washington morning, she pulled her lips into a smile.”
So begins “A Force So Swift: Mao, Truman, and the Birth of Modern China, 1949,” by veteran foreign correspondent and Fairfield County author Kevin Peraino.
In the newly published book, Peraino tells the gripping story of the Truman Administration’s response to the fall of Nationalist China, and the triumph of Mao Zedong’s Communist forces in 1949 – a critically important year in U.S. foreign relations.
The Darien-based writer will discuss his book at the Greenwich Library on Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m., as part of the library’s Authors Live series.
H.W. Brands, professor of history at the University of Texas and author of “The General Vs. the President,” said of “A Force So Swift,” “Just now, when Americans are again trying to make sense of China, a new look at the postwar roots of U.S.-Chinese relations could not be more timely. And a riveting look this is, filled with charismatic individuals, dramatic moments and fraught decisions that still shape our world today.”
Growing up in Ridgefield, Peraino recalls with a hint of a smile, he “always loved to read and write, since the first grade.” His first work was published in the 6th grade, when he and some friends created a magazine titled “Between The Lines,” which covered the local music scene.
Peraino went on to study global journalism at Northwestern University, and became immersed in foreign affairs after spending a semester in Brussels with the Wall Street Journal.
Upon graduation, Peraino joined the news magazine and website Newsweek, where he traveled the world as a senior writer and bureau chief, covering both domestic and foreign affairs for more than a decade, with a focus on the Middle East.
His first cover story for Newsweek, “Odyssey Into Jihad,” co-written with Evan Thomas, was published in January 2002; for it, he interviewed the wife of Osama bin Laden’s personal secretary.
Asked what makes a great foreign correspondent, he said, “Just to get out there in the field and talk with people. It always changes the assumptions you have, and you don’t always know what you are looking for.” He used his French and his “workable Arabic” to communicate with locals.
Peraino was part of the team that won the National Magazine Award in 2004 and was a finalist for the Livingston Award for foreign affairs reporting.
In 2013, Peraino published his first book, “Lincoln in the World: The Making of a Statesmen and the Dawn of American Power,” which shows how Lincoln’s foreign policy helped paved the way to America’s rise to power.
“Lincoln’s policy had not really been written about,” said Peraino. “But he was a man of humility and such a patient person when it came to the decision-making process.”
The Daily Beast named “Lincoln in the World” one of the best books on Lincoln ever written, no mean feat considering that hundreds of Lincoln books have been written, and a new crop emerges every year.
The idea for “A Force So Swift” occurred to him a few years ago, when the CIA declassified one of its secret internal histories of covert operations in China in 1949.
“As a writer of history, whenever you have new sources like that, it’s a great opportunity to re-examine the conventional wisdom and tell a richer story,” said Peraino.
Drawing on Chinese and Russian sources, Peraino conducted extensive research (both local and abroad) of that critical period, poring through diaries and memoranda and interviewing surviving eyewitnesses, including a man who served as a soldier in Mao’s army when he was just 12 years old.
Peraino did a significant portion of his local research at Greenwich Library, where he utilized the microfilm machines to read countless newspaper reports, which helped him “truly capture the mindset of the era and its people.”
When asked what his own daily news diet consists of, Peraino shared his short list: “The Wall Sreet Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, The New Yorker.”
When asked if he thinks most Americans are up to date on foreign affairs, Peraino said, “They have to care in this globalized age, as it affects everyone one of us.”
Peraino, the father of two, is a member at the Council on Foreign Relations and is a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Politico Magazine and Foreign Policy.
Asked for his three favorite reads, books that inspired him and have had lasting influence on him, Peraino could not quite keep his list to three: “If I were banished to a desert island – leaving aside the obvious choices like the Bible, the collected works of Shakespeare, etc., I think I’d take contemporary fiction. Something by Graham Greene, maybe ‘The Quiet American’ or ‘The End of the Affair,’ one or all of John Updike’s ‘Rabbit’ novels, Hilary Mantel’s ‘Wolf Hall,’ John Le Carré’s ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold,’ Marilynn Robinson’s ‘Housekeeping,’ Hemingway’s ‘A Farewell to Arms.’”
His choices suggest a wide literary range and distinctive, powerful writing styles; and several of them offer the sort of political complexity he favors in his own non-fiction books. “I love telling these stories and being able to bring history alive,” Peraino said.
When asked what advice he could offer to young or aspiring reporters, Peraino said, “Journalism is a more important calling than ever right now, and anything worth doing is hard.”
Visit greenwichlibrary.com or call (203) 622-7933 to register for this highly anticipated discussion on Tuesday, Oct. 10.
