Read The Sand Pebbles Storyline:
Conflicted crew of US gunboat cruising China's straits in the 1920's risks involvement in Chinese civil war. First published in THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, this was the author's only novel: he died at 51. Some brilliant science fiction stories, often reprinted, preceded the novel. Memorably filmed by Robert Wise with Steve McQueen and Candice Bergen in 1966.Pages of The Sand Pebbles :