Dr Michael Lynch is currently Honorary Senior Lecturer and Tutor in the School of Historical Studies at the University of Leicester. His specialist areas of interest include modern European and Asian history. He is currently the editor for the Access to History series for Hodder Murray. His previous publications include China: From Empire to People's Republic 1900-1949 (Hodder & Stoughton, 1996), Mao Zedong (Routledge, 2004) and The People's Republic of China 1949-76, 2nd Edition (Hodder and Stoughton, 2008).

Out of the ashes of Imperial China arose two new contenders to lead a reformed nation; the Chinese Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang, and the Chinese Communist Party. In 1927, the inevitable clash between these two political parties led to a bitter civil war that would last for 23 years, through World War-II and into the Cold War period. The brutal struggle finally concluded when Communist forces captured Nanjing, capital of the Nationalist Republic of China, irrevocably altering the course of China's future. Dr. Michael Lynch sheds light on this cruel civil war that ultimately led to the establishment of the People's Republic of China.