In the original dust jacket. Tan board binding with white title on the spine.

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An ex-library book in surprisingly good condition as the photographs well illustrate.

Charles Patrick Fitzgerald FAHA (5 March 1902 – 13 April 1992) was a British historian and writer whose academic career occurred mostly in Australia. He was a professor of East Asian studies with particular focus on China. Fitzgerald was born in London, England. His parents were Hans Sauer, a migrant from Cape Colony. and his Irish-born wife Cecile Josephine, née Fitzpatrick. Unable to attend university as his family could not afford the fees, he obtained a job in a bank. After becoming interested in East Asia and the political developments there, he studied for a diploma in Chinese at the University of London’s School of Oriental Studies.

Career: He first visited China at age 21, and subsequently lived and worked there for over 20 years. Between 1946 and 1950 he worked there for the British Council. After leaving China, Fitzgerald was invited to Australia by Douglas Copland, who had been Australian Minister to China (1946-1948). Fitzgerald served as a Reader in Far Eastern History at the Research School of Pacific (and Asian) Studies at the Australian National University, located in Canberra, Australia, from 1951 to 1953. He later became the first Professor of Far Eastern History, from 1953 to 1967. He was a foundation fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1969.

Personal life: Fitzgerald married Pamela Sara Knollys on 15 February 1941 at Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, England. They had three daughters.

He died in Sydney, New South Wales, in 1992.

Note: China’s rapid economic transformation to become the world’s second-largest economy does not diminish the importance nor the relevance of this book.