"The story of Homer Lea's involvement and adventures with Chinese reformers and revolutionaries both in the United States and China in the early-twentieth-century could come directly from a modern novel of international intrigue."—John T. Greenwood, editor of Normandy to Victory: The War Diary of General Courtney H. Hodges and the First U.S. Army
"What we knew hitherto about the self-proclaimed 'General,' Homer Lea, was based on a jumble of often contradictory or problematic sources. Lawrence Kaplan cuts through the myths and offers a coherent and convincing analysis of Lea's actual connections with Chinese reformers and his role in the training of Chinese military cadets in the United States over a century ago. An intriguing tale."—Jonathan Spence, author of The Search for Modern China
""An excellent biography of a largely forgotten extraordinary man. Despite ill health throughout his 35 years, Lea served briefly as a general in the Chinese Army and was Sun Yat Sen's military advisor. He became famous because of his book in 1909 about a future war with the United States that Japan would initiate with a surprise attack. Three years later, in another book, he predicted that Germany and Russia would be major threats to Britain and the United States. His fascinating life is well told in this biography."—Mac Coffman, author of The War to End All Wars"
"The five-foot-three-inch hunchback who only weighed 100 pounds and dropped out of Stanford College managed to convince high-ranking Chinese officials that he was not only a military expert but also the relative of the famous Confederate General Robert E. Lee. With his proclamation he found himself poised on the brink of immense change in the Chinese government."—Military Review
"A full biography of a... western military dreamer with grand designs for China."—Diplomat & International Canada
"An extraordinary contribution to the history of American-Chinese relations and the book belongs to libraries worldwide."—Center for Research of Geopolitics
"This book is probably as thorough a recounting of Lea's life as there will ever be."—Journal of America's Military Past
"His documentation is thorough, and he supplements the text with unique and supporting color plates from both family and personal collections."—Military Review
"An interesting, sometimes, amusing read, Homer Lea is particularly valuable in reminding us that clandestine international political networks and military organizations are not new developments."—NYMAS
"Now largely forgotten, Homer Lea, from the late 1890s until his death in 1912 at a few days short of age 36, played a significant role in China's access to the highest political circles on three continents and responsibility for recruiting and training some 2,000 young Chinese-American men to serve as officers for the cause."—New York Military Affairs Symposium Review
Kaplan has undertaken a difficult task, well accomplished, in reconstructing a biography of a figure who was controversial while living and continued to be after his death. This book will be of value to those whose interests are in the areas of Sino-American relations, American adventurers, or the events leading to the Pacific War.
~Journal of Military History