A Critical Introduction to Mao
Published on 23. August 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
392 pages
978-0-521-71154-8 (ISBN)
Description
Mao Zedong's political career spanned more than half a century. The ideas he championed transformed one of the largest nations on earth and inspired revolutionary movements across the world. Even today Mao lives on in China, where he is regarded by many as a near-mythical figure, and in the West, where a burgeoning literature continues to debate his memory. In this book, leading scholars from different generations and around the world offer a critical evaluation of the life and legacy of China's most famous - some would say infamous - son. The book brings the scholarship on Mao up to date, and its alternative perspectives equip readers to assess for themselves the nature of this mercurial figure and his significance in modern Chinese history.
Reviews / Votes
"It is important to understand Mao, and this book makes a contribution to such understanding."-Hong Kong Economic Journal "Timothy Cheek's anthology 'A Critical Introduction to Mao' attest[s] to the difficulty of definitively fixing Mao's image, a project that amounts to writing a history of China's present.... The most stimulating chapters in the academic collection... discuss Mao's "Sinification" of a European tradition of revolution."-The New Yorker "The chapters in Cheek's collection contribute to an understanding of Mao Zedong that is as messy and complex as it is compelling. The text, moreover, encourages readers to engage the problem of knowing the historical Mao, while reminding the reader of the equal importance of Mao's ahistorical legacy." - Brian J. DeMare, Tulane University, Twentieth Century China and The China BeatMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
2 Maps; 16 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
566 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-71154-8 (9780521711548)
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Schweitzer Classification
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Timothy Cheek
A Critical Introduction to Mao
E-Book
10/2012
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€30.99
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Timothy Cheek
A Critical Introduction to Mao
Book
08/2010
Cambridge University Press
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Person
Timothy Cheek is Professor and Louis Cha Chair in Chinese Research at the Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia. His research, teaching, and translating focus on the recent history of China, especially the role of Chinese intellectuals in the twentieth century and the history of the Chinese Communist Party. He has written numerous papers and six books including Living with Reform: China Since 1989 (2006) and Mao Zedong and China's Revolutions: A Brief History with Documents (2002).
Content
Part I. Mao's World: 1. Mao, revolution, and memory Timothy Cheek; 2. Making revolution in twentieth-century China Joseph Esherick; 3. From urban radical to rural revolutionary: Mao from the 1920s to 1937 Brantly Womack; 4. War, cosmopolitanism, and authority: Mao from 1937 to 1956 Hans J. van de Ven; 5. Consuming fragments of Mao Zedong: the chairman's final two decades at the helm Michael Schoenhals; 6. Mao and his followers Frederick C. Teiwes; 7. Mao, Mao Zedong thought, and communist intellectuals Hung-yok Ip; 8. Gendered Mao: Mao, Maoism, and women Delia Davin; 9. Mao the man and Mao the icon Daniel Leese; Part II. Mao's Legacy: 10. For truly great men, look to this age alone: was Mao Zedong a new emperor? Geremie Barme; 11. Recent Mao Zedong scholarship in China Xiao Yanzhong; 12. Third world Maoism Alexander Cook; 13. Mao's journeys to the west: meanings made of Mao Charles W. Hayford; 14. Two perspectives on Mao Zedong Jiang Yihua and Roderick MacFarquhar.