Based on archival materials from several countries, especially China, interviews, and more than twenty years of research on the subject, Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia offer a comprehensive look at the Sino-Soviet alliance from the end of World War II through 1959, when the alliance was left in disarray as a result of foreign and domestic policies. Mao and the Sino-Soviet Partnership, 1945-1959: A New History is a reevaluation of the history of this alliance and offers the first comprehensive account of it from a Chinese perspective.

Political and economic foundations, 1945-1949 -- Conflicts of interest and the creation of alliance treaty, 1949-1950 -- Differences and cooperation during the Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Khrushchev's China policy and the honeymoon, 1954-1956 -- The 20th Soviet Party Congress and the CCP's Eighth Congress, 1956 -- The Hungarian crisis and the CCP's political support to the Soviets, 1956-1957 -- The Soviet aid and restrictions to China's nuclear weapons program, 1954-1960 -- Mao, Khrushchev and the Moscow Conference, 1957 -- Effects of the Great Leap Forward, the people's commune movement and disagreements over domestic policies, 1957-1959 -- The bombardment of jinmen, the sino-indian border conflicts and disagreements over foreign policies, 1958-1959.