This volume investigates the diplomatic strategies and policy decisions governing United States relations with China during the critical period of 1955 to 1957. John P. Glennon, serving as a historian for the Department of State, compiles and edits declassified records to provide a comprehensive view of American foreign policy. The text utilizes internal memoranda, telegrams, and briefing papers to reconstruct the geopolitical tensions and decision-making processes of the Eisenhower administration regarding the Taiwan Strait and mainland China.

Historians and researchers utilize this volume as a foundational primary source for understanding the complexities of Cold War diplomacy in East Asia. Readers frequently note the high density of the prose and the technical nature of the archival documents presented.