A plain sailorman in China : the life and times of Cdr. I.V. Gillis, USN, 1875-1948 / Bruce Swanson ; with Vance H. Morrison, Don H. McDowell, and Nancy N. Tomasko.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Swanson, Bruce, 1937-

Contributor:

Morrison, Vance H.

McDowell, Don H.

Tomasko, Nancy Norton, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gillis, I. V. (Irvin Van Gorder), 1875-1948.

Gillis, I. V.

United States. Navy--Officers--Biography.

United States.

Military attachés--United States--Biography.

Military attachés.

United States--Military relations--China.

China--Military relations--United States.

China.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (273 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Annapolis, Md. : Naval Institute Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This biography recounts the extraordinary life of I. V. Gillis, both as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1894 to 1919 and as a collector of rare Chinese books. China specialist Bruce Swanson captures the colorful, multi-faceted life of the man known as an innovative thinker, tactical practitioner, spy, and successful diplomat. Gillis, a second-generation Naval Academy graduate and the son of an admiral, was hailed a hero while serving aboard his first warship in the Spanish-American War and in 1907 became the first U. S. Naval Attaché to China. He remained in China until his death, marrying a Chinese princess, and collecting books now housed at Princeton University.

Contents:

Table of Contents; List of Illustrations; List of Maps; Preface; Introduction ; 1. Education, Sea Duty in the Atlantic, and Trial by Fire: 1875-1900; 2. Sea Duty in the Pacific (I): 1900-1904; 3. The Lure of Naval Intelligence: Ashore in Asia and Back to the Atlantic, 1904-1907; 4. China Naval Attache and Rocks and Shoals: 1907-1908; 5. Sea Duty in the Pacific (II). Then Dollar Diplomacy in China: 1908-1914; 6. Career Decision: Gillis Retires and Returns to China, 1914-1917; 7. World War I and Recall to Active Duty: Naval Attache in Peking, 1917-1919

8. Gillis as a Civilian in China: 1919-1948APPENDICES; A. I.V. Gillis, Alfred Thayer Mahan, and the Age of Navalism ; B. I.V. Gillis' Record of Naval Service; C. Gillis Family Tree; D. U.S. Naval Academy Course of Instruction, ca. 1895; E. Chinese Names (Systems of Romanization) ; Notes; Bibliography ; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781612513928

1612513921

OCLC:

852757516