Synopses & Reviews
This major new biography of Mao uses extensive Russian documents previously unavailable to biographers to reveal surprising details about Mao’s rise to power and leadership in China.Mao Zedong was one of the most important figures of the twentieth century, the most important in the history of modern China. This revelatory new biography draws on thousands of Russian documents about Mao and other Chinese leaders that were available during the period of glasnost and now are less accessible.
Pantsov and Levine trace Mao’s rise to leadership from the small village where he was born and show his relentless drive to succeed, vividly describing his growing role in the nascent Communist party of China. They disclose startling facts about his personal life, particularly regarding his health and his lifelong, serial affairs with young women.
Mao was a complex figure, champion of the poor and brutal tyrant, poet and despot. He brought his country from poverty and economic backwardness into the modern age, led a national revolution and made the rest of the world respect China. But he was also responsible for a loss of life exceeding even that of Hitler and Stalin. A disciple of Stalin, he turned against the USSR after Khrushchev came to power, determined that China would depend on no other country. Mao remade his weak country into a powerful one and shrewdly renewed relations with the U.S. as a counter to the USSR. He lived and behaved as China’s last emperor. Now readers will have the full story of his life and rule as never before.
Review
and#8220;Maoand#8217;s will for power, his vision as a revolutionary, and his prodigious capacity for cruelty marked mankind. Yet it is impossible to understand the transformation of modern China without absorbing the enormity of one manand#8217;s impact. Pantsov and Levine have opened what are perhaps the final vaults of archival treasures to buttress their new and engrossing portrait of the Chinese revolutionary titan. With clear narrative and sparkling anecdote, they have chiseled a more complete Mao, in the full dimension of life as a man, as an eager collaborator with Stalin in the Communist bloc and as the tiger on the mountain who both built and ravaged a nation.and#8221; andlt;BRandgt; and#8212;Patrick Tyler, former Beijing Bureau Chief of andlt;iandgt;The New York Times andlt;/iandgt;and author ofandlt;iandgt; A Great Wall: Six Presidents and China andlt;/iandgt;
Review
"Here finally is Mao in the round: vigorous, idealistic, deluded, and ultimately evil--the full human being in rich personal and political detail.
Review
and#8220;Alexander Pantsov and Steven Levine's vividly written and highly authoritative biography, steeped in previously inaccessible Soviet archival sources, forever banishes the myth that Maoand#8217;s revolution succeeded as if the Russians had never come.and#8221;andlt;BRandgt; and#8212;Alice Miller, research fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Review
and#8220;A comprehensive, authoritative new study that challenges the received wisdom regarding Maoand#8217;s relationship with Stalin and the Soviet Union. . . . The Great Helmsman fully fleshed, still complicated and ever provocative.and#8221;andlt;BRandgt; and#8212;andlt;iandgt;Kirkus Reviewsandlt;/iandgt; (starred review)
Review
"Definitive."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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"Definitive. . . . Thick with detail, this book sets a high bar for future Mao biographers."andlt;BRandgt; and#8212;andlt;Iandgt;Booklistandlt;/Iandgt; (starred review)
Review
and#8220;China scholars now will have to reassess every element of Maoand#8217;s career. . . . More important than Pantsov and Levineand#8217;s scholarly chops, however, is that they spin a balanced and utterly compelling story larded with telling and often newly uncovered anecdotes about Maoand#8217;s family, wives, comrades, rivals, and victims. The common sense of the authorsand#8217; judgments on Maoand#8217;s crimes and achievements builds on their insights into Maoand#8217;s complex personality (and, yes, sex life). One of the most important China books of recent years and a page-turner, too.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;This fine book is based on extraordinary access to Soviet archives and documents recently published in China and the West, shedding new light on some aspects of the Chinese leaderand#8217;s life and career. . . . Pantsov and Levine succeed in conveying a balanced image of Maoand#8217;s complex persona and revealing the contradictions in his beliefs and actions.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A new, important history. . . . The authorsand#8217; most serious contribution is probably their insight into Maoand#8217;s Stalinist creed and his movementand#8217;s complete financial and ideological reliance on the Soviets.and#8221;
Review
“Definitive.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Review
"Comprehensive, judicious, and finely detailed. . . . [A] major study." Library Journal (starred review)
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"Comprehensive, judicious, and finely detailed. . . . [A] major study."
Review
"A substantial and hair-raising contribution to our knowledge of the Great Helmsman."
Review
andlt;Iandgt;and#8220;andlt;/Iandgt;[andlt;Iandgt;Maoandlt;/Iandgt;] goes a long way toward elucidating contemporary China and Chinese leaders' insistence on one-party rule as the only way to perpetuate long-lasting political, economic and cultural change.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Here finally is Mao in the round: vigorous, idealistic, deluded, and ultimately eviland#8212;the full human being in rich personal and political detail. The widest possible use of Chinese sources provides deep insight into Maoand#8217;s family, colleagues, and rivals and illuminates the dilemmas he faced and the strategies he chose. New materials from the Soviet archives enrich our understanding of Maoand#8217;s formative relationship with Stalin.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Definitive.and#8221;andlt;BRandgt; and#8212;andlt;iandgt;Publishers Weeklyandlt;/iandgt; (starred review)
Review
"Alexander Pantsov and Steven Levine draw on recently declassified Soviet material to reveal surprising details about the founder of the PRC. . . . [Including] a hitherto unseen 15-volume dossier on Mao, the basis of a vivid and heterogeneous portrait of the chairman that exposed his personal life, particularly regarding his health and his serial affairs."
Synopsis
This major new biography of Mao uses extensive Russian documents previously unavailable to biographers to reveal surprising details about Mao's rise to power and leadership in China.
This major new biography of Mao uses extensive Russian documents previously unavailable to biographers to reveal surprising details about Mao's rise to power and his leadership in China.
Mao Zedong was one of the most important figures of the twentieth century, the most important in the history of modern China. A complex figure, he was champion of the poor and brutal tyrant, poet and despot.
Pantsov and Levine show Mao's relentless drive to succeed, vividly describing his growing role in the nascent Communist Party of China. They disclose startling facts about his personal life, particularly regarding his health and his lifelong serial affairs with young women. They portray him as the loyal Stalinist that he was, who never broke with the Soviet Union until after Stalin's death.
Mao brought his country from poverty and economic backwardness into the modern age and onto the world stage. But he was also responsible for an unprecedented loss of life. The disastrous Great Leap Forward with its accompanying famine and the bloody Cultural Revolution were Mao's creations. Internationally Mao began to distance China from the USSR under Khrushchev and shrewdly renewed relations with the U.S. as a counter to the Soviets. He lived and behaved as China's last emperor.
Synopsis
andlt;Bandgt;This major new biography of Mao uses extensive Russian documents previously unavailable to biographers to reveal surprising details about Maoand#8217;s rise to power and his leadership in China.andlt;/Bandgt; andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Mao Zedong was one of the most important figures of the twentieth century, the most important in the history of modern China. A complex figure, he was champion of the poor and brutal tyrant, poet and despot. andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Pantsov and Levine show Maoand#8217;s relentless drive to succeed, vividly describing his growing role in the nascent Communist Party of China. They disclose startling facts about his personal life, particularly regarding his health and his lifelong serial affairs with young women. They portray him as the loyal Stalinist that he was, who never broke with the Soviet Union until after Stalinand#8217;s death. andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Mao brought his country from poverty and economic backwardness into the modern age and onto the world stage. But he was also responsible for an unprecedented loss of life. The disastrous Great Leap Forward with its accompanying famine and the bloody Cultural Revolution were Maoand#8217;s creations. Internationally Mao began to distance China from the USSR under Khrushchev and shrewdly renewed relations with the U.S. as a counter to the Soviets. He lived and behaved as Chinaand#8217;s last emperor.
About the Author
andlt;bandgt;Alexander V. Pantsov andlt;/bandgt;is a professor of history and holds the Edward and Mary Catherine Gerhold Chair in the Humanities at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Born in Moscow, Pantsov graduated from Moscow State University Institute of Asian and African Studies in 1978. He has published more than ten books, among them andlt;iandgt;The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Revolution 1919-1927 andlt;/iandgt;and andlt;iandgt;Mao Zedongandlt;/iandgt;.andlt;bandgt;Steven I. Levineandlt;/bandgt; is research faculty associate in the department of history at the University of Montana. Levine has published extensively in the fields of modern Chinese politics and foreign policy as well as American-East Asian relations.