Edgar Snow was a reporter and a journalist. He was a doer, a seeker of facts. His mature y
That he is remembered mostly through Red Star Over China is understandable. The accounts in that book were of international importance and the experience for the author in getting those accounts was perhaps the most significant one in his life. Though it is typical of him, after the acclaim the book received, he commented, "I simply wrote down what I was told by the extraordinary young men and women with whom it was my privilege to live at age thirty, and from whom I learned a great deal." That "great deal" spread from the pages of Red Star to alter the thinking of countless people -- including many citizens of China who were led by it to action that drastically affected their own lives and the course of their country's future. An awesome realization of personal responsibility also came about at this point for the young journalist, one he was cognizant of the rest of his life -- the discovery, as he heard of friends and students killed in a war they had been moved to join largely because of his reports, that his writing had taken on the nature of political action and that he, as a writer, had to be personally answerable for all he wrote.
There were other texts which broke through ignorance and prejudice in similar ways: Far Eastern Front, Living China, Battle for Asia, People on Our Side, Journey To the Beginning, to name some of the eleven books he produced, as well as many pages of engaged reporting -- of floods and famines, of wars declared and undeclared, of human dilemmas and indignities, of unsung heroes and unheralded sacrifices -- a life's study of the impact of people and events from many lands known at first hand.
Edgar represents what is best in American journalism -- as did his compatriots Agnes Smedley and Jack Belden. They dedicated to action, to communication that would help lessen the need, help correct the injustices. A main objective of theirs, because they were there and they saw, because they were internationalists with concern for human welfare, values and dignity, was to contribute to an understanding of China and the crippling burdens she bore -- in a world dominated by arrogance, greed, and ignorance.
According to the article, the writings of Edgar Snow were based on ______.
A.facts of life
B.his own peep-hole view
C.the officials' taste
D.his prejudiced imagination