The Sand Pebbles by Terence McKenna
Set in the 1920s along the Yangtze River, the novel follows an idealistic American chief engineer assigned to an aging U.S. gunboat whose crew nicknames it the “sand pebbles.” Through his efforts to maintain the ship and grapple with modern engineering principles, he confronts deep cultural clashes between Westerners and Chinese, growing tensions among the crew, and the moral contradictions of imperial presence. The story builds to a tragic confrontation that exposes themes of duty, pride, isolation, and the human cost of intervention.
- Published
- 1962
- Nationality
- American
- Length
- Medium
- Pages
- 300-400 pages
- Original Language
- English
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- Alternate Titles
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