How did the Chinese Communist Party survive the near-total annihilation of its forces during the 1934-1935 retreat from Nationalist encirclement? Dick Wilson, a seasoned journalist and expert on Asian affairs, utilizes primary source accounts, interviews with survivors, and historical records to reconstruct the strategic and human dimensions of the Long March. He argues that this retreat was not merely a military necessity but a formative ideological crucible that solidified Mao Zedong's leadership and the party's eventual path to power.

Historians and scholars frequently cite this work as a foundational narrative account of the Long March for Western audiences. Readers often note the accessible prose style, which balances academic rigor with a clear, linear historical narrative.