The Chinese Cultural Revolution as History (Studies of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center) [Paperback]

Joseph W. Esherick (Editor), Paul G. Pickowicz (Editor), Andrew G. Walder (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 27, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0804753504 | ISBN-13: 978-0804753500 | Edition: 1

Based on a wide variety of unusual and only recently available sources, this book covers the entire Cultural Revolution decade (1966-76) and shows how the Cultural Revolution was experienced by ordinary Chinese at the base of urban and rural society. The contributors emphasize the complex interaction of state and society during this tumultuous period, exploring the way events originating at the center of political power changed people's lives and how, in turn, people's responses took the Cultural Revolution in unplanned and unanticipated directions. This approach offers a more fruitful way to understand the Cultural Revolution and its historical legacies.

The book provides a new look at the student Red Guard movements, the effort to identify and cultivate potential “revolutionary” leaders in outlying provinces, stubborn resistance to campaigns to destroy the old culture, and the violence and mass killings in rural China.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"By probing the extent of the revolution across different regions in China and drawing attention to its later development after the Red Guards movement petered out, this work greatly broadens knowledge of the revolution and modern Chinese history in general."—CHOICE

"The questions raised by the painful realities illuminated by these important essays are worth taking seriously."—The Chinese Historical Review

"This volume is a valuable collection of essays on the Chinese Cultural Revolution It enjoys many new sources of information, which [were] not available for the previous scholarship on the history of the Cultural Revolution. The new information and new interpretations of the events as a result of it, alone were enough to make this volume a very useful reference for students of the Cultural Revolution in particular and the Chinese politics in general." —The Journal of Chinese Political Science

From the Inside Flap

Based on a wide variety of unusual and only recently available sources, this book covers the entire Cultural Revolution decade (1966-76) and shows how the Cultural Revolution was experienced by ordinary Chinese at the base of urban and rural society. The contributors emphasize the complex interaction of state and society during this tumultuous period, exploring the way events originating at the center of political power changed people's lives and how, in turn, people's responses took the Cultural Revolution in unplanned and unanticipated directions. This approach offers a more fruitful way to understand the Cultural Revolution and its historical legacies.
The book provides a new look at the student Red Guard movements, the effort to identify and cultivate potential “revolutionary” leaders in outlying provinces, stubborn resistance to campaigns to destroy the old culture, and the violence and mass killings in rural China.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (March 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804753504
• ISBN-13: 978-0804753500
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #554,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joseph W. Esherick was born in Marin County, north of San Francisco, in 1942 and studied Chinese history at Harvard (B.A., 1964, summa cum laude) and UC Berkeley (Ph.D., 1971). He taught at the University of Oregon from 1971 to 1990, when he moved to the University of California at San Diego, where he is now a Distinguished Professor in the History Department. Having participated in the anti-Vietnam War movement in the 1960s at Berkeley, he has always been interested in social movements: why ordinary people join them, how they relate to social structures and cultural practices, and how they affect larger political developments. He travels frequently to China for research and lectures; and in addition to teaching and writing Chinese history, he most enjoys spending time with his family, hiking, skiing and tennis.