Land Wars

Reviews / Votes

"Richly documented and elegantly written, Land Wars reveals the contradictions and ironies intrinsic to the Chinese Communist Party's theory and practice of land reform. A welcome addition to the literature on the Communist revolution, it offers a counter narrative to the stories told in William Hinton's Fanshen in many ways."-Huaiyin Li, University of Texas at Austin "Land Wars successfully challenges still deeply-entrenched Chinese Communist mythologies about the nature and dynamics of the 1945-1952 land reform. DeMare's penetrating discussion of ferocious, ritualized class struggle campaigns skillfully demonstrates how land reform was not about economic change. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the imposition of Communist political control at the grassroots."-Paul G. Pickowicz, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History and Chinese Studies, University of California, San Diego "DeMare handles the topic of land reform in a refreshing way, using skillful story-telling....[His] compelling land reform research is no doubt methodologically innovative and of great significance in uncovering untold stories of rural China's grassroots revolution."-Shaofan An, Journal of Chinese History "The socialist practices in the early People's Republic of China have received ample scholarly attention in recent years. Brian DeMare's Land Wars is a very thorough, thought-provoking study that complicates extant literature and will certainly deepen readers' understanding of the essence of Chinese socialism."-Guo Wu, Journal of Asian Studies