Shanghai Lawyer

The Memoirs of America’s China Spymaster

Diplomat, lawyer, judge, soldier, spy, spymaster – just some of the positions American Norwood Allman, held in his 30 plus years in China. Shanghai Lawyer is Allman’s first-hand account of his amazing life, from his arrival as a student interpreter during WWI, to serving as a Chinese and Mexican judge, practising before the U.S. Court for China, commanding the American militia in Shanghai, and, finally fighting the Japanese army in the battle for Hong Kong in 1941.

Douglas Clark, author of Gunboat Justice, has trawled through public, private and personal archives to bring the story Allman tells in his acclaimed bestseller fully back to life.

• Comprehensively annotated to name names, tell tales and dig up dirt
• Fully illustrated with hundreds of photos, cartoons, clippings and historical papers
• Numerous embellishments to flesh out Allman’s story in full
• Completely new epilogue reveals Allman’s later life as a spymaster in the OSS and CIA during and after WWII

“Refreshing … Honest … Alman tells his story of 27 years in China with good nature, humour and matter-of-factness.” — New York Times

“A delightful rambling account” — China Weekly Review

“An interesting and important book on China which no one else could have written.” — Carl Crow, author of 400 Million Customers

“Norwood Allman saw it all in China in the first half of the 20th century. He mixed with the great and good as well as the criminal and bad. Shanghai Lawyer is perhaps the most complete autobiography of China in this crucial period. The annotations and illustrations in this volume make Allman’s story all the more rich. ” — Paul French, author of Midnight in Peking