Although he maintained respect for Henry Luce, White resigned and returned home to write, along with Annalee Jacoby, widow of fellow China reporter, Mel Jacoby, a book about China at war and in crisis, the best-selling Thunder Out of China.
White returned to his wartime experience in the novel The Mountain Road (1958), which dealt with the retreat of a team of American troops in China in the face of a Japanese offensive provoked by bombings by the 14th Air Force.