In Search of Teddy White

He followed excitement. From wat, in China to peace in Europe to Presidential campaigns in America. Theodore H. White's In Search of History: A Personal Expedition is his account of the excitement he follows. While the book is White's personal view of history, and in particular a personal view of his history, it is not a probing view of his personality, which is an important distinction to remember when reading his work.

First, White traces his roots. Born in 1915, he grew up in the then-Jewish neighborhood of Dorchester, Mass., went to Boston Public Latin and from there to Harvard, where he majored in Far Eastern Studies.

Then White traces his routes, first as a stringer graduated to reporter for Time Magazine's Henry Luce, stationed in China to cover the Japanese invasion. Later he covered both the rise of the Chinese Communist Party and the action of World War II. After disillusionment with Time's bias for Chiang K'ai-shek and a fight with Luce, White broke away from time and co-wrote a bestseller, Thunder Out of China (1946), dealing directly with what Time attempted to ignore.

While drifting from various magazine jobs, moving intermittenly from freelancing to regular jobs, White covered European politics, economics and the Marshall Plan while working in Paris. There he collected material for a bestseller about the hearing of Europe. As things settled down abroad, White returned briefly to the States and got a taste of U.S. politics. An introduction was enough, and he returned to the States for good. To get back in touch, he traveled cross-country and learned less about America than he did about himself and his sublimated passion for politics.

Midway through the '76 campaign White, on the trail of Mo Udall, returned to Dorchester for the first time since he left for China in the 30's. It had changed radically. Most of the old buildings weren't even standing, almost none of the old people were there. White realized he couldn't accurately chart history in four year chunks. So he decided to write an overview.

In Search of History, though, is not really an overview. Rather, it is a series of fascinating glimpses at large fragments of history and large personalities. White's first-person narrative covers his boyhood and his experiences in China, Europe during the 50's and the Kennedy Years. The personal narrative is held together by sketchy third-person narrations describing what actually happened during the time between the big events. Not only is this switching between reportage and narration disconcerting but it underlines the book's main problems.

Teddy White is interested in excitement. He has been ever since China. But he indulges this interest to excess. He falls too easily for the big names--Chou En Lai, Stillwell, MacArthur, Mao, Eisenhower and Kennedy. To White, these people are all bigger and better than life. He loses his perspective which causes the reader to lose respect for White's credibility.

White is a first-rate writer and storyteller who captures the flavor of events exceedingly well. He is also lucky. Most of the people he deals with are still around and still important, which gives his insights an added value since his history is still fresh enough to be considered "current events."

In many respects the sections on Harvard and China are the most fascinating. White was here 35 years ago, when Harvard was a very different place. He was in China witnessing what very few saw, let alone at such close hand--as an intimate of Chou's and an acquaintance of Mao's.

It was there, in China, that White got his start. It was there, too, that he was spoiled--too much excitement too soon too fast, which led him to seek it everywhere without cease. Still, if he hadn't, he would have deprived us of the entertainment and education he offers in this history of one man's search for history.