1. Introduction -- 2. The wartime decision to return Taiwan to China -- 3. Difficult dilemmas : the United States and Kuomintang repression, 1947-1979 -- 4. The status of the ROC and Taiwan, 1950-1972 : explorations in United States policy -- 5. The "sacred texts" of United States-China-Taiwan relations -- 6. Congress gets into the Taiwan human rights act -- 7. Taiwan policy making since Tiananmen : navigating through shifting waters -- 8. Epilogue