In Red Star Over China, Edgar Snow recounts the months that he spent with the Chinese Red Army in the summer and fall of 1936. Snow uses his extensive interviews with Mao and the other top leaders to present vivid descriptions of the Long March, as well as biographical accounts of leaders on both sides of the conflicts, including Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao, He Long, and Mao Zedong's own account of his life.


When Snow wrote, there were no reliable reports reaching the West of what was going on in the communist-controlled areas. Snow's status as an international journalist not previously identified with the communist movement gave his reports the stamp of authenticity. The glowing pictures of life in the communist areas contrasted with the gloom and corruption of the Kuomintang government. Many Chinese learned about Mao and the communist movement from the almost immediate translations of Mao's autobiography, and readers in North America and Europe, especially those with liberal views, were heartened to learn of a movement which they interpreted as being anti-fascist and progressive. Snow reported clearly Mao's new United Front policy which left violent class struggle behind.


Although Snow made clear that Mao's ultimate aim was control of China, many readers got the impression that the Chinese communists were 'agrarian reformers.'