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2 Beaverton World History- China
4 Burnside Asia- China Peoples Republic 1949 to Present
2 Hawthorne World History- China
12 Local Warehouse Asia- China Peoples Republic 1949 to Present

This title in other formats:

Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine

by Jasper Becker

Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Chinese people suffered what may have been the worst famine in history. Over thirty million perished in a grain shortage brought on not by flood, drought, or infestation, but by the insanely irresponsible dictates of Chairman Mao Ze-dong's "Great Leap Forward," an attempt at utopian engineering gone horribly wrong.

Journalist Jasper Becker conducted hundreds of interviews and spent years immersed in painstaking detective work to produce Hungry Ghosts, the first full account of this dark chapter in Chinese history. In this horrific story of state-sponsored terror, cannibalism, torture, and murder, China's communist leadership boasted of record harvests and actually increased grain exports, while refusing imports and international assistance. With China's reclamation of Hong Kong now a fait accompli, removing the historical blinders is more timely than ever. As reviewer Richard Bernstein wrote in the New York Times, "Mr. Becker's remarkable book...strikes a heavy blow against willed ignorance of what took place."

Review:

"An accessible, masterly account of the greatest peacetime disaster of this century."--The New York Times Book Review

Synopsis:

Journalist Jasper Becker conducted hundreds of interviews and spent years immersed in detective work to produce this first full account of the dark chapter in Chinese history--Chairman Mao Ze-dong's secret famine of the late 1950s and early 1960s. In this horrific story of state-sponsored terror, cannibalism torture and murder, China's communist leadership boasted of record harvests and actually increased grain exports, while refusing imports and international assistance. 16-page photo insert. 352 pp. National ads. 10,000 print.

About the Author

Jasper Becker is currently Beijing bureau chief for the South China Morning Post. He has also written extensively on Chinese affairs for The Guardian, The Economist, and The Spectator. He lives in Beijing.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780805056686
Subtitle:
Mao's Secret Famine
Author:
Becker, Jasper
Publisher:
Henry Holt & Company
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
History
Subject:
China
Subject:
Asia - China
Subject:
Famines
Subject:
Food supply
Subject:
Food supply -- China.
Subject:
Mao, Zedong
Edition Number:
1st Owl Books ed.
Edition Description:
Trade Paper
Publication Date:
April 1998
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
352
Dimensions:
9.26x6.12x1.08 in. 1.07 lbs.

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