The Man Who Stayed Behind
Published on 3. April 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
496 pages
978-0-8223-2667-0 (ISBN)
Description
The Man Who Stayed Behind is the remarkable account of Sidney Rittenberg, an American who was sent to China by the U.S. military in the 1940s. A student activist and labor organizer who was fluent in Chinese, Rittenberg became caught up in the turbulence that engulfed China and remained there until the late 1970s. Even with access to China's highest leaders as an American communist, however, he was twice imprisoned for a total of sixteen years.
Both a memoir and a documentary history of the Chinese revolution from 1949 through the Cultural Revolution, The Man Who Stayed Behind provides a human perspective on China's efforts to build a new society. Critical of both his own mistakes and those of the Communist leadership, Rittenberg nevertheless gives an even-handed account of a country that is now free of internal war for the first time in a hundred years.
Both a memoir and a documentary history of the Chinese revolution from 1949 through the Cultural Revolution, The Man Who Stayed Behind provides a human perspective on China's efforts to build a new society. Critical of both his own mistakes and those of the Communist leadership, Rittenberg nevertheless gives an even-handed account of a country that is now free of internal war for the first time in a hundred years.
Reviews / Votes
"The Man Who Stayed Behind hooked me from start to finish. These are rare, tragic, sometimes startling insights into Mao's China at its self-destructive worst. Whether you sympathize with Sidney Rittenberg or not (and there will be times when you have doubts) he was there as history was made and unmade, and became part of its scar tissue. His prison portrait of Madame Mao as the shrieking harridan of the Red Terror will stay with me a long time. And his own personal story is an amazing tale in its own right."-Sterling Seagrave, author of The Soong Dynasty "A gripping story about an idealistic young American who freely cast his lot with the Chinese revolution only to be struck down by that revolution at the floodtide of its success. . . . One lives with him through inhuman cruelty and the mindless horror of sixteen years of solitary confinement."-Leonard Woodcock, First American Ambassador to China "An extraordinary and revealing account of how someone was swept into the Chinese Communist movement and stayed with it through its many blunders, excesses, and cruelties. . . . A fascinating autobiography-honest, moving, chilling, and quite illuminating."-Dr. Michel Oksenberg, Former National Security Council Aid on China Policy "I found The Man Who Stayed Behind hard to put down. No American has ever merged as fully, hopefully-and disastrously-with Communist China as Rittenberg did for four decades from the 1940s. The book is lively, poignant, and revealing. Rittenberg offers a window on Beijing politics that anyone seriously interested in China's recent past and likely future should read."-Ross Terrill, author of China in Our Time "Sidney Rittenberg has had one of the most remarkable lives of anyone I have ever met. The story of his life is not only a fascinating and valuable witness to one of the greatest historical upheavals of [the twentieth] century, but is a vivid testimony to the power of good in the midst of evil."-Billy Graham "[The Man Who Stayed Behind] reads like a riveting historical novel. But there's no fiction here . . . it's Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the Long March, solitary confinement, despair, romance, and redemption. Sidney Rittenberg's story is a classic."-Mike Wallace, CBS-TV 60 MinutesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
North Carolina
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
16 b&w photographs
Dimensions
Height: 153 mm
Width: 232 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
700 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8223-2667-0 (9780822326670)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Rittenberg Sidney Rittenberg
Man Who Stayed Behind
E-Book
04/2001
1st Edition
Duke University Press Books
€218.99
Available for download
Persons
Sidney Rittenberg is President of Rittenberg Associates, Incorporated-a China consulting firm. He resides on Fox Island, Washington, with his wife, Yulin.
Amanda Bennett is Managing Editor of The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon and former Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal in Atlanta.
Amanda Bennett is Managing Editor of The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon and former Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal in Atlanta.
Content
Notes on Spelling and Pronunciation
Map
Introduction / Michael Hunt
Key Names
1. The Death of the Wood Fairy
2. The Famine
3. The New Fourth Army
4. In Mao's Caves
5. High Autumn and Bracing Weather
6. My Long March
7. The Year of Darkness
8. Learning to Live
9. The Brave New World
10. Redder Than Red
11. The Golden Age
12. A Leap in the Dark
13. The Great Hunger
14. The Inner Circle
15. The Good Life
16. Arouse the Masses
17. Smash Everything Old
18. Seize Power
19. Hold Power
20. Power Prevails
21. The Ice House
22. The Dynasty Collapses
23. Coming Home
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Index
Map
Introduction / Michael Hunt
Key Names
1. The Death of the Wood Fairy
2. The Famine
3. The New Fourth Army
4. In Mao's Caves
5. High Autumn and Bracing Weather
6. My Long March
7. The Year of Darkness
8. Learning to Live
9. The Brave New World
10. Redder Than Red
11. The Golden Age
12. A Leap in the Dark
13. The Great Hunger
14. The Inner Circle
15. The Good Life
16. Arouse the Masses
17. Smash Everything Old
18. Seize Power
19. Hold Power
20. Power Prevails
21. The Ice House
22. The Dynasty Collapses
23. Coming Home
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Index