Mao
The Man Who Made China
Published on 6. December 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
858 pages
978-1-78453-463-9 (ISBN)
Description
One of the great figures of the twentieth century, Chairman Mao looms irrepressibly over the economic rise of China. Mao Zedong was the leader of a revolution, a communist who lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, an aggressive and distrustful leader, and a man responsible for more civilian deaths than perhaps any other historical figure. Now, four decades after Mao's death, acclaimed biographer Philip Short presents a fully updated and revised edition of his ground-breaking and masterly biography. Vivid, uncompromising and unflinching, Short presents in one-volume the man behind the propaganda - his family, his beliefs and his horrors. In doing so he shows us both the human being Mao was, and the monster he became.
Reviews / Votes
'Beautifully written, grippingly readable ... A formidable piece of research' - Independent; 'Wonderfully readable ... He tells the story superbly ... It is an excellent account' - Guardian; 'Impressive and important' - Independent on Sunday; 'Philip Short's excellent 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 - John Simpson, Sunday Telegraph; 'Well researched, rich in detail, and beautifully written ... An illuminating and accessible portrait' - Conor O'Clery, The Irish Times; 'It will be a long time ... before there is a Chinese biography of Mao this is as complete and unflinching as ...Mr Short's. The scenes behind the key moments in Mao's life are vividly painted, in a way only a journalist well travelled in China could do.' - Sunday TimesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Illustrations
4 maps, 47pp bw integrated
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 135 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
772 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78453-463-9 (9781784534639)
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
Person
Philip Short was for thirty years a foreign correspondent for the BBC, based in Washington, Moscow, Paris, Tokyo and Beijing. He lived and worked in China for two decades in the 1970s and 1980s, and has returned regularly to the country ever since. He is the author of acclaimed biographies of Mitterrand, A Study in Ambiguity (2013) and Pol Pot, Anatomy of a Nightmare (2006).
Content
Acknowledgements
List of Maps
List of Illustrations
Note on Spelling and Pronunciation
Chinese Views of Mao: Preface to the New Revised Edition
Prologue
1. A Confucian Childhood
2. Revolution
3. Lords of Misrule
4. A Ferment of 'Isms'
5. The Comintern Takes Charge
6. Events Leading to the Horse Day Incident and its Bloody Aftermath
7. Out of the Barrel of a Gun
8. Futian: Loss of Innocence
9. Chairman of the Republic
10. In Search of the Grey Dragon: The Long March North
11. Yan'an Interlude: The Philosopher is King
12. Paper Tigers
13. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
14. Musings on Immortality
15. Cataclysm
16. Things Fall Apart
Epilogue
Afterword
Dramatis Personae
Notes
Index
List of Maps
List of Illustrations
Note on Spelling and Pronunciation
Chinese Views of Mao: Preface to the New Revised Edition
Prologue
1. A Confucian Childhood
2. Revolution
3. Lords of Misrule
4. A Ferment of 'Isms'
5. The Comintern Takes Charge
6. Events Leading to the Horse Day Incident and its Bloody Aftermath
7. Out of the Barrel of a Gun
8. Futian: Loss of Innocence
9. Chairman of the Republic
10. In Search of the Grey Dragon: The Long March North
11. Yan'an Interlude: The Philosopher is King
12. Paper Tigers
13. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
14. Musings on Immortality
15. Cataclysm
16. Things Fall Apart
Epilogue
Afterword
Dramatis Personae
Notes
Index