Mao

Written with Jon Halliday, Mao traces Mao Zedong’s life from his youth in Hunan through the formation of the Chinese Communist movement, the Long March, war with Japan, civil war and the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949. It examines his relations with Chiang Kai-shek, Joseph Stalin and other Communist leaders, as well as the internal struggles through which Mao secured supremacy within the party and state.

The authors present a strongly revisionist and highly critical interpretation, arguing that Mao’s pursuit of power shaped military decisions, political purges and economic campaigns that caused enormous suffering. Particular attention is given to the Great Leap Forward, famine and the Cultural Revolution, as well as Mao’s treatment of colleagues and family members. Some of the book’s evidence and conclusions have been debated by historians, but it remains an influential political biography and a major intervention in public understanding of Maoist China.