Picturing China in the American Press juxtaposes what the ordinary American news reader was shown visually inTime Magazine between 1949 and 1973 with contemporary perspectives on the behind-the-scenes history of the period. Time Magazine is an especially fruitful source for such a visual-historical contrast and comparison because it was China-centric, founded and run by Henry Luce, a man who loved China and was commensurably obsessed with winning China to democracy and Western influence. Picturing China examines in detail major events (the Korean War and Nixon's trip to China), less considerable occurrences (shellings of Straits islands and diplomatic flaps), great personages (Chairman Mao and Henry Kissinger), and the common people and common life of China as seen through the lenses and described by the pens of American reporters, artists, photographers, and editors. Picturing China in the American Press is of great interest to both scholars of communications, Chinese history, China Studies, and journalists.

"With this book, Perlmutter fosters understanding of how visual images can be used to manipulate public opinion and shape foreign policies. Recommended." - CHOICE

"Picturing China in the American Press will give scholars and students a vivid and rewarding look at nation building...no less important than the contruction of institutions and processes of governance and statecraft. In picturing China as dragon or panda, Time gave American audiences compellingly reductive fictions by which to live, dream, vote, and fight." - H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online, November 2007

"offers a fascinating analysis." - CBQ