Formosa Betrayed (book)

Formosa Betrayed
Cover of the 2017 edition
AuthorGeorge H. Kerr
Cover artistLi Jun
LanguageEnglish
PublisherHoughton Mifflin
Publication date
1965
Pages456
ISBN978-1910736-53-1

Formosa Betrayed (Chinese: 被出賣的台灣) is a 1965 book written by George H. Kerr, a US diplomatic officer in Taiwan, who witnessed the February 28 Incident, and the corruption and killings committed by the KMT in Taiwan after World War II. It is one of the most influential books about Taiwan's transition from Japanese colonial rule.[1] Kerr was working for the American Foreign Service at the time of the transition, and was present in Taiwan during the KMT occupation and resulting aftermath. Formosa Betrayed sharply rebuked the KMT administration and made arguments in favor of Taiwanese independence.

The book was originally published in 1965 by Houghton Mifflin. A Chinese-language translation was made in 1974, the English-language version was republished in 1976 by Da Capo Press, a second English-language edition was published by Taiwan Publishing Co. in 1992, and a new Chinese-language translation was released in 2014.[1]

  1. ^ a b Pan, Jason (Feb 28, 2014). "Influential book gets a new edition". Taipei Times. p. 4.