A. Tom Grunfeld

Grunfeld received his BA degree from the State University of New York at Old Westbury in 1972, an MA degree in Chinese history from the School of Oriental and African Studies in 1973, and a PhD from New York University in 1985.

He has been asked to comment on current Chinese and Tibetan affairs for the BBC and CNN International.Sherman et al. 2001

Grunfeld has been a member of the US–China Peoples Friendship Association and a staff member and contributor to its journal New China, as well as a member of the Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars and contributor to its publication, Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars (now Critical Asian Studies).

John Powers writes that Chinese and Tibetan writers attack each other in emotional language, and that the two sides "stake out extreme and uncompromising positions." Tibetan authors impugn Grunfeld's integrity and his authority to write. Powers classifies Grunfeld and Israel Epstein among those who "enthusiastically endorse the Chinese version of events and use much the same language as do Chinese writers to describe conditions in Tibet prior to the 1950s." Grunfeld, continues Powers, paints a picture of a "brutal, exploitative, and primitive society," one that was stratified into a nobility living in opulence while the majority of the people were serfs and slaves.{{sfnb|Powers|2004|p = online}} Others agree the reactions are politicized. Those opposing Chinese entrance into Tibet, writes T. Neuhaus, sometimes emphasized "deeper" knowledge rather than fact gathering, and accused Grunfeld and Melvyn Goldstein saying that "they should know better" than to criticize pre-1950s Tibet for being a feudal society.{{sfnb|Neuhaus|2012|p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=X7ZRikAdT_4C&q=Grunfeld&pg=PT229 229]}}

Reviewing the second edition of The Making of Tibet in the China Quarterly Philip Denwood wrote that Grunfeld gathered material from "diverse and uneven mass of largely secondary material," none in Chinese or Tibetan, and that he "weaves his chronological account with skill." Denwood noted that Grunfeld "seems to have no particular axe to grind or thesis to defend and is at pains to distance himself from the apologists for both Tibet and China, particularly the former." He concludes that "the book should certainly be on the standard list for both the academic and the general reader interested in its subject."Philip Denwood, The China Quarterly, no. 149 (1997): 199–200. http://www.jstor.org/stable/655068.

According to Jamyang Norbu, Grunfeld speaks neither Chinese nor Tibetan, and used neither Tibetan nor Chinese sources in his book.{{cite web | url=https://www.jamyangnorbu.com/blog/2008/08/17/acme-of-obscenity/ | title=ACME OF OBSCENITY |author=Jamyang Norbu |website=www.jamyangnorbu.com}}

Grunfeld has been drawn into other controversies. Regarding American journalist Edgar Snow (1905–1972), Grunfeld has concluded that he was not a Communist Party member, although he was sympathetic:

Having read through several decades (1920s-1960s) of Snow's diaries, countless pages of correspondence, his FBI file, two biographies, at least one MA thesis and countless articles leads me to believe he was not a member of the CPUSA... That he was sympathetic to some of their ideas and activities is, to my mind, beyond doubt.

{{cite web

| title = Edgar Snow & CPUSA

| publisher = H-NET H-HOAC Discussion

| url = https://empire2.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/experts.nsf/byidprint/9C88737B0616D00E852573F0005A927F?opendocument

| access-date = 2 September 2017}}

Grunfeld has received awards funding travel and research from the National Endowment for the Humanities (1984), the Research Foundation of City University of New York (1985), the State University of New York, and the Ford Foundation (1993). He has also been a Fulbright Senior Scholar (2009).

Grunfeld wrote his doctoral dissertation on "Friends of the Revolution: American Supporters of China's Communists, 1926–1939" (New York: University Microfilms International: 1985).

{{cite book

| first = Adalbert T.

| last = Grunfeld

| title = Friends of the Revolution: American Supporters of China's Communists, 1926–1939

| publisher = New York University

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EhYhnQEACAAJ

| date = 1985

| access-date = 2 September 2017}}

Books: Books written, edited, or co-written or co-edited include:

• The Making of Modern Tibet (1987,

{{cite book

| first1 = A. Tom

| last1 = Grunfeld

| title =The Making of Modern Tibet

| publisher = Zed Books

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PElxAAAAMAAJ

| date = 1987

| access-date = 2 September 2017| isbn = 9780873324151

}} 1996, 2015

{{cite book

| first1 = A. Tom

| last1 = Grunfeld

| title =The Making of Modern Tibet

| publisher = Routledge

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CNHKBgAAQBAJ

| date = 24 February 2015

| access-date = 2 September 2017| isbn = 9781317455837

}})

• On Her Own: Journalistic Adventures from the San Francisco Earthquake to the Chinese Revolution, 1917-1927 (1993, 2017)

{{cite book

| first1 = Milly

| last1 = Bennett

| author-link = Milly Bennett

| editor-first = A. Tom

| editor-last = Grunfeld

| title = On Her Own: Journalistic Adventures from the San Francisco Earthquake to the Chinese Revolution, 1917-1927

| publisher = M.E. Sharpe

| url = https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1315492369

| date = 22 July 2016

| access-date = 2 September 2017}}

• World Civilizations: Sources, Images and Interpretations, Volume 1 (1998, 2001, 2005)

{{cite book

| first1 = A. Tom

| last1 = Grunfeld

| first2 = Dennis

| last2 = Sherman

| first3 = David

| last3 = Rosner

| title = World Civilizations: Sources, Images and Interpretations, Volume 1

| publisher = Oxford University Press

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OBtAOAAACAAJ

| date = 2005

| access-date = 2 September 2017| isbn = 9780072418163

}}

• World Civilizations: Sources, Images and Interpretations, Volume 2 (1998, 2001, 2005)

{{cite book

| first1 = A. Tom

| last1 = Grunfeld

| first2 = Dennis

| last2 = Sherman

| first3 = David

| last3 = Rosner

| title = World Civilizations: Sources, Images and Interpretations, Volume 2

| publisher = Oxford University Press

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mdrTOQAACAAJ

| date = 2005

| access-date = 2 September 2017| isbn = 9780073133386

}}

• The Vietnam War: A History in Documents (2002, 2003)

{{cite book

| first1 = A. Tom

| last1 = Grunfeld

| first2 = Marilyn Blatt

| last2 = Young

| first3 = John J.

| last3 = Fitzgerald

| title = On Her Own: Journalistic Adventures from the San Francisco Earthquake to the Chinese Revolution, 1917-1927

| publisher = M.E. Sharpe

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=y0oGAAAACAAJ

| date = 2003

| access-date = 2 September 2017| isbn = 9780195166354

}}

Articles: Articles published include:

• "Roof of the World / A Review Essay" Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars (1977)

{{cite journal

| first1 = A. Tom

| last1 = Grunfeld

| title = Roof of the World / A Review Essay

| journal = Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars

| url = http://criticalasianstudies.org/assets/files/bcas/v09n01.pdf

| date = 1977

| access-date = 2 September 2017

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110811051413/http://criticalasianstudies.org/assets/files/bcas/v09n01.pdf

| archive-date = 11 August 2011

| url-status=dead

| df = dmy-all

}}

• "'God We Had Fun': The CIA in China and Sino-American Relations," Critical Asian Studies (2003)

{{cite journal

| first1 = A. Tom

| last1 = Grunfeld

| title = 'God We Had Fun': The CIA in China and Sino-American Relations

| journal = Critical Asian Studies

| url = http://criticalasianstudies.org/issues/vol35/no1/god-we-had-fun.html

| date = 2003

| volume = 35

| pages = 113–138

| doi = 10.1080/14672710320000061505

| s2cid = 145498231

| access-date = 2 September 2017

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171231202305/http://criticalasianstudies.org/issues/vol35/no1/god-we-had-fun.html

| archive-date = 31 December 2017

| url-status=dead

| df = dmy-all

}}

• "Reassessing Tibet Policy" Institute for Policy Studies (2005)

{{cite journal

| journal = Institute for Policy Studies

| first1 = A. Tom

| last1 = Grunfeld

| title = Reassessing Tibet Policy

| publisher = Institute for Policy Studies

| url = http://www.ips-dc.org/ips-authors/a-tom-grunfeld/

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151109164358/http://www.ips-dc.org/reassessing_tibet_policy/

| archive-date = 2015-11-09

| date = 2003

| url-status = dead

| access-date = 13 March 2025}}

• "Film Reviews: Round Eyes in the Middle Kingdom and They Chose China," Critical Asian Studies (2009)

{{cite journal

| first1 = A. Tom

| last1 = Grunfeld

| title = Film Reviews: Round Eyes in the Middle Kingdom and They Chose China

| journal = Critical Asian Studies

| url = http://criticalasianstudies.org/issues/vol41/no2/film-reviews.html

| date = 2009

| access-date = 2 September 2017

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171231201016/http://criticalasianstudies.org/issues/vol41/no2/film-reviews.html

| archive-date = 31 December 2017

| url-status=dead

| df = dmy-all

}}

• "Review: Foreigners and Foreign Institutions in Republican China," Journal of Contemporary Asia (2014)

{{cite journal

| first1 = A. Tom

| last1 = Grunfeld

| title = Review: Foreigners and Foreign Institutions in Republican China

| journal = Journal of Contemporary Asia

| volume = 45

| issue = 3

| pages = 556–559

| date = 4 November 2014

| doi = 10.1080/00472336.2014.976922

| s2cid = 154596316

}}

• {{cite journal |last =Grunfeld |first = A. Tom|title =Demystifying Tibet: Unlocking the Secrets of the Land of the Snows |journal= H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online |date =1997 |url = http://enlight.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-AN/102888.htm }}
• "Tibet and the United States," Contemporary Tibet: Politics, Development and Society in a Disputed Region (2017)

{{cite book

| first1 = A. Tom

| last1 = Grunfeld

|chapter=Tibet and the United States

|editor1-last=Sautman

|editor1-first=Barry

|editor2-last=Teufel Dreyer

|editor2-first=June

|title=Contemporary Tibet: Politics, Development and Society in a Disputed Region

|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9dADgAAQBAJ

|publisher= Routledge

|date=2 March 2017

|pages=368

| isbn = 9781315289991

}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20151020055206/https://empire2.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/experts.nsf/expertslist/ATomGrunfeld.html Empire State College]: bio
• "Tibetan-Chinese Relations—an EAA Interview with A. Tom Grunfeld," Education About Asia 14.2 (Fall 2009)[https://web.archive.org/web/20140301175732/http://www.asian-studies.org/eaa/Grunfeld-14-2.pdf]
• Ingram, Paul O. Tibet, the facts (1990) Tibetan Young Buddhist Association
• Joes, Anthony James. Resisting rebellion: the history and politics of counterinsurgency (2006) University Press of Kentucky. {{ISBN|0-8131-9170-X}}
• {{citation|first =T. |last = Neuhaus|title=Tibet in the Western Imagination|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X7ZRikAdT_4C&pg=PT229|date=2012|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-137-26483-1}}
• {{cite book|last=Powers |first=John|title=History As Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles versus the People's Republic of China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HeIwBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT19|date=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-988397-4 |page=19}}
• Sherman, Grunfeld, Markowitz, Rosner, and Heywood. World Civilization: Sources, Images and Interpretations Volume II, 3rd ed. (2001) McGraw-Hill. {{ISBN|0-07-241825-7}}
• [http://www.worldcat.org/wcidentities/lccn-n85-186151 A. Tom Grunfeld] WorldCat.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grunfeld, A. Tom}}

Category:1946 births

Category:Living people

Category:Tibetologists

Category:State University of New York at Old Westbury alumni

Category:Empire State University faculty

Category:Alumni of SOAS University of London

Category:American sinologists