THE SOONG SISTERS

The luster of the Soong sisters--and particularly of Mayling, the best known in the United States--has dimmed so much in recent years that polishing it up for this full length biography would seem to be a thankless task. Eunson has sincerely tried to get at the objective reality behind the Soong legend. She allows room for both personal and political criticism of Madame Chiang, showing that her propaganda campaign in behalf of the KMT (or perhaps just her husband) was partly responsible for America's distorted image of the Chinese situation. She reminds us that Eling, and her banker husband H. H. Kung, were honored guests of Mussolini. Chingling, Madame Sun Yat-sen and an early, tenacious supporter of the Communists, comes off best here, but she usually remains in the background, there being far less available information on her activities. In the end, this focuses mostly on the sisters' personalities--articulate, charming, well-dressed (except for the austere Chingling)--and if the glamor of it all doesn't touch you, then this predominantly indulgent memoir will begin to drag.