Search results for ""Author Philip Snow""

A compelling, expansive history of the relationship between China and Russia, from the seventeenth century to the present Russia and China, the largest and most populous countries in the world, respectively, have maintained a delicate relationship for four centuries. In addition to a four-thousand-kilometer border, they have periodically shared a common outlook on political and economic affairs. But they are, in essence, profoundly different polities and cultures, and their intermittent alliances have proven difficult and at times even volatile. Philip Snow provides a full account of the relationship between these two global giants. Looking at politics, religion, economics, and culture, Snow uncovers the deep roots of the two nations’ alignment. We see the shifts in the balance of power, from the wealth and strength of early Qing China to the Tsarist and Soviet ascendancies, and episodes of intense conflict followed by harmony. He looks too at the experiences and opinions of ordinary people, which often vastly differed from those of their governments, and considers how long the countries’ current amicable relationship might endure.

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The author's departure from his beloved Fijian Service to become Bursar of Rugby School was heart-rending for him. However, a major factor in his decision was the chance to see more of his older brother, the novelist C.P. Snow. Philip himself was a character in three of his brother's novels and as his brother's reputation grew (not only as a novelist but also as a minister in Harold Wilson's government and later, in the House of Lords) new opportunities were opened to Philip. So his story reads like a social history from the 1950s onwards, since he found himself rubbing shoulders with eminent figures from a variety of fields - cricket, arts and letters, politics, the armed services, the law, academia and royalty.

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After Cambridge, in 1938, Philip Snow left the first-class cricket field and sailed halfway around the world to pursue a Colonial Service career. His work in Fiji could hardly have been more varied: Commissioner, Magistrate, Officer-in-Charge-of-Police, Superintendent of Gaols, Reciever of Wrecks and Colonial Secretary. He was joined by his fiancee, just before the exotic setting was shattered by the Pacific War. After Pearl Harbor and the fall of Singapore, Fiji was virtually surrounded by the Japanese. Philip Snow was Government Liaison Officer during this critical period. The presence of C.P. Snow, his elder brother, exerted a powerful influence on Philip's life during this time. This is a record of the flavour of British experience in the colonies. Overshadowing all is the theme of racial harmony, mutual tolerance and distant respect which informed Snow's life.

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