Synopses & Reviews
The definitive biography of the man who dominated modern Chinese history.
When the Nationalists routed a ragtag Red Army on the Xiang River during the Long March, an earthy Chinese peasant with a brilliant mind moved to a position of power. Eight years after his military success, Mao Tse-Tung had won out over more sophisticated rivals to become party chairman, his title for life. Isolated by his eminence, he lived like a feudal emperor for much of his reign after a blood purge took more lives than those killed by either Stalin or Hitler. His virtual quarantine resulted in an ideological/political divide and a devastating reign of terror that became the Cultural Revolution. Though Mao broke the shackles of two thousand years of Confucian right thinking and was the major force of contemporary China, he reverted to the simplistic thinking of his peasant origins at the , sustained by the same autocratic process that supported China's first emperors.
One cannot understand today's China without first understanding Mao. Attempts to view Mao's life through Western lenses inevitably present a cartoonish monster or hero, both far removed from the real man. Philip Short's masterly assessment-informed by secret documents recently found in China-allows the reader to understand this colossal figure whose shadow will dominate the twenty-first century.
Review
"[Short] has combined what is best in journalism and scholarship...He has a large canvas, and he uses it brilliantly." --The New York Times Book Review
"...magisterial, beautifully written, excellently printed and rich in material from Mr. Short's own researches among those who knew Mao." --The Sunday Telegraph
"A surprising and revelatory biography that Westerners would be well advised to read." --The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Review
"Short has the larger canvas, and he uses it brilliantly . . . he has combined what is best in journalism and scholarship; his book is full of colorful insights and detail . . ."--
The New York Times Book Review"A masterful biography. . . . The most measured, thoughtful and complete biography of Mao now available in English."--Kirkus Reviews
"Mao: A Life deserves to be the standard history. It is everything one could hope for: magisterial, beautifully written, excellently printed and rich in material from Mr. Short's own researches among those who knew and observed Mao."--Sunday Telegraph, London
"Draws on a wealth of hitherto untapped sources to fashion an uncanny portrait of Mao Zedong. . . . Short's dramatic biography will reward readers with its fresh perspective on China's civil war, Mao's treacherous relations with Stalin, party infighting and the power struggle following Mao's death. It not only sheds valuable light on Mao's character but also serves as an illuminating and sweeping history of modern China."--Publishers Weekly
"Beautifully written, grippingly readable . . . a formidable piece of research, which wears its learning so lightly you can hardly feel it."--Terry Eagleton, The Independent
"Wonderfully readable and rich . . . he tells the story superbly."--The Guardian
Synopsis
When the Nationalists routed a ragtag Red Army on the Xiang River during the Long March, an earthy Chinese peasant with a brilliant mind moved to a position of power. Eight years after his military success, Mao Tse-tung had won out over more sophisticated rivals to become party chairman, his title for life. Isolated by his eminence, he lived like a feudal emperor for much of his reign after blood purge and agricultural failures took more lives than those killed by either Stalin or Hitler. His virtual quarantine resulted in an ideological/political divide and a devastating reign of terror that became known as the Cultural Revolution. One cannot understand today's China without first understanding Mao, and Philip Short's masterly assessment -- informed by a wealth of new sources -- allows the reader to understand this colossal figure whose shadow will dominate the twenty-first century.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [643]-761) and index.
About the Author
Philip Short has been a foreign correspondent for
The Times (London),
The Economist, and BBC in Uganda, Moscow, China, and Washington, D.C. He lived in China for seven years; he now resides in Paris.
Table of Contents
Prologue -- A Confucian childhood -- Lords of misrule -- A ferment of 'isms' -- The comintern takes charge -- Events leading to the Horse Day incident and its bloody aftermath -- Out of the barrel of a gun -- Futian: loss of innocence -- Chairman of the republic -- In search of the grey dragon: the long march north -- Yan'an interlude: the philosopher is king -- Paper tigers -- The sorcerer's apprentice -- Musings on immortality -- Cataclysm -- Things fall apart -- Epilogue.