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PRODUCT OVERVIEW
- ISBN 9781541701700
- Categories [2025], APR25_1, BX, BXOS, History, MAY25_1, New Arrivals OS, NF HIS, Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction: Humanities
- Author(s) James M Zimmerman
- Publisher Hachette Book Group
- Pages 352
- Format Hardcover
- Dimensions 16.3cm x 3.8cm x 24.4cm
- Weight 0.59 kg
product description
In May 1923, when Shanghai publisher and reporter John Benjamin Powell bought a first-class ticket for the Peking Express, he pictured an idyllic overnight journey on a brand-new train of unprecedented luxury-exactly what the advertisements promised. Seeing his fellow passengers, including mysterious Italian lawyer Giuseppe Musso, a confidante of Mussolini and lawyer for the opium trade, and American heiress Lucy Aldrich, sister-in-law of John D. Rockefeller Jr., he knew it would be an unforgettable trip.
Charismatic bandit leader and populist rabble rouser Sun Mei-yao had also taken notice of the new train from Shanghai to Peking. On the night of Powell's trip of a lifetime, Sun launched his plan to make a brazen political statement: he and a thousand fellow bandits descended on the train, capturing dozens of hostages.
Aided by local proxy authorities, the humiliated Peking government soon furiously gave chase. At the bandits' mountain stronghold, a five-week siege began.
