Unbound : A True Story of War, Love, and Survival

by King, Dean

• ISBN13: 9780316167086
• ISBN10: 0316167088
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-03-24
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Summary

In October 1934, the Chinese Communist Army found itself facing annihilation, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Nationalist soldiers. Rather than surrender, 86,000 Communists embarked on an epic flight to safety. Only thirty were women. Their trek would eventually cover 4,000 miles over 370 days. Under enemy fire they crossed highland awamps, climbed Tibetan peaks, scrambled over chain bridges, and trudged through the sands of the western deserts. Fewer than 10,000 of them would survive, but remarkably all of the women would live to tell the tale. Unbound is an amazing story of love, friendship, and survival written by a new master of adventure narrative.

Author Biography

Dean King is the author of the national bestseller Skeletons on the Zahara. He has written for many publications, including Men's Journal, Esquire, Outside, New York Magazine, and The New York Times. He lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Table of Contents

Pronunciation Guide	p. ix
Principal Women of this Account of the Long March	p. xiii
Useful Terms	p. xxi
Author's Note	p. xxiii
The March to the West
A Flowering	p. 3
The Struggle	p. 11
The Chosen, Early October 1934	p. 19
Leaving Jiangxi, October 1934	p. 29
No Tears, October 1934	p. 42
Into Hunan and Guangdong, October-November 1934	p. 47
Xiang River Debacle, November 25-December 1, 1934	p. 61
Crossing Southern China
Thundergod Cliff, December 1934	p. 75
Into Guizhou, December 1934	p. 86
Love, Power, and Revolution in Zunyi, January 1935	p. 99
Little Devils, January 1935	p. 111
A New Year, January-February 1935	p. 119
Where the Han Are Unwelcome, March-April 1935	p. 132
Dead Child, April-May 1935	p. 144
North Through Sichuan
Two Raging Rivers, May 1935	p. 157
Hitting the Roof, June 1935	p. 173
A Meeting of Armies, Mid-June 1935	p. 189
Through the Tibetan Snowies, July-August 1935	p. 201
Beyond the Snowies, August 1935	p. 219
The Caodi, August 1935	p. 227
Home Stretch
Life After Death, September 1935	p. 239
A Five-Hundred-Mile Sprint, September-October 1935	p. 255
The Fourth Army Hunkers Down, October 1935-February 1936	p. 266
A Union of Forces, November 1935-October 1936	p. 274
In the Throat, October-December 1936	p. 292
The Destruction of the West Route Army, January-March 1937	p. 306
Prisoners of the Ma, April-November 1937	p. 319
Epilogue	p. 327
Acknowledgments	p. 337
Notes	p. 341
Interviews Conducted for this Book	p. 375
Bibliography	p. 377
Index	p. 385
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