The Strange Military Genius Who Fought to Free China

In the early days of the twentieth century, a young American named Homer Lea predicted with uncanny accuracy the rise of Japan's militarism and its challenge to the United States. An acknowledged military genius who never served in the armed forces, this hunchbacked, nearly blind dwarf worked tirelessly for Sun Yat-sen, the "George Washington of China," in his doomed attempt to turn China into a democracy. Here in this essay from New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming is Lea's remarkable story.