Mao's Last Revolution Later Edition Edition

by Roderick MacFarquhar (Author), Michael Schoenhals (Author)

30 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0674027480

ISBN-10: 0674027485

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The Cultural Revolution was a watershed event in the history of the People’s Republic of China, the defining decade of half a century of communist rule. Before 1966, China was a typical communist state, with a command economy and a powerful party able to keep the population under control. But during the Cultural Revolution, in a move unprecedented in any communist country, Mao unleashed the Red Guards against the party. Tens of thousands of officials were humiliated, tortured, and even killed. Order had to be restored by the military, whose methods were often equally brutal.

In a masterly book, Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals explain why Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, and show his Machiavellian role in masterminding it (which Chinese publications conceal). In often horrifying detail, they document the Hobbesian state that ensued. The movement veered out of control and terror paralyzed the country. Power struggles raged among Lin Biao, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Qing―Mao’s wife and leader of the Gang of Four―while Mao often played one against the other.

After Mao’s death, in reaction to the killing and the chaos, Deng Xiaoping led China into a reform era in which capitalism flourishes and the party has lost its former authority. In its invaluable critical analysis of Chairman Mao and its brilliant portrait of a culture in turmoil, Mao’s Last Revolution offers the most authoritative and compelling account to date of this seminal event in the history of China.

Mao's Last Revolution

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Given the hostile biographies and debunking histories that have recently appeared, it's safe to say that Mao's long honeymoon is over. In this exhaustive critique, MacFarquhar (director of the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard) and Schoenhals (lecturer on modern Chinese society at Sweden's Lund University) cover the terrifying Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976, when Mao unleashed the Red Guards on his people. As the unceasing, pointless intrigues between Mao and his chief henchmen unfolded, the violence and denunciations, the staged humiliations and mass executions raged remorselessly out of control, and the country lurched into turmoil. Even today, no one knows the final death count of the Mao cult. In rural China alone, according to a conservative estimate, 36 million people were persecuted, of whom between 750,000 and 1.5 million were murdered, with roughly the same number permanently injured. In the end, the authors, ironically, take comfort from one of the chairman's favorite sayings: "Out of bad things can come good things." For out of that dreadful decade, the authors conclude, "has emerged a saner, more prosperous, and perhaps one day a democratic China." 57 b&w photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From The New Yorker

MacFarquhar and Schoenhals successfully synthesize the many plotlines of the Cultural Revolution in a narrative that shuttles from the endless micro-maneuvers of the Party elite to the marauding teens of the Red Guard; and from the Revolution's macro-economic fallout to such bizarre manifestations as the cannibalizing of counter-revolutionaries in Guangxi. Carefully orchestrating the pandemonium and fuelling it with his "deliberate opaqueness" is the figure of Mao Zedong. Utterly unfazed by violence—"China is such a populous nation, it is not as if we cannot do without a few people," he remarked—he hoped the Revolution would perpetuate his legacy. But the arbitrary brutality of the regime insured the opposite. One weary subject recalled that when Mao died, in 1976, "the news filled me with such euphoria that for an instant I was numb."
Copyright © 2006 Click here to subscribe to The New Yorker --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

Paperback: 752 pages
Publisher: Belknap Press; Later Edition edition (March 15, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0674027485
ISBN-13: 978-0674027480
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #625,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #508 in Books > Science & Math > Earth Sciences > Geography > Regional
- #541 in Books > Law > Legal Theory & Systems > Non-US Legal Systems
- #580 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Political Science > Comparative Politics

Customer Reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars

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Top Customer Reviews

The Hows & Whys of a Historical Tragedy

ByScot Carron September 1, 2006

Format: Hardcover

A lot of experts say that there are four periods in modern times that helped shape present-day China: World War II, the Civil War & rise of the Chinese Communist Party, the Great Leap Forward & resulting famine, and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. I'm not an expert, merely someone who's interested in History, but I tend to agree. This theory explains many things, including why true republicanism is coming so slowly to the People's Republic. But there is one further question everyone asks - How can something like the Cultural Revolution happen?

This book attempts to answer that broad question, as well as shows us how the Cultural Revolution is with China even today. The authors are experts in Chinese history and point out how the vision of one man - Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-Tung as romanized in the older British system still used in Taiwan), founder and chairman of the CCP - almost destroyed his own creation through dithering, ruthless crackdowns, and borderline insanity.

This isn't an easy read by a longshot, but those who want to find out more about one of the most pivotal events in human history are well-served in reading it. The book dispells a lot of commonly-held views (such as Zhou Enlai (Chou En-Lai) being a moderating force on Mao) and gets the reader into the thick of it. Clearly demonstrated as well is, far from the clear-headed leader of Party propaganda, how indicisive Mao himself was in the direction of his Revolution (one example being the rise, fall, rise, fall, rise and ultimate redemption of Deng Xiaopeng (Teng Hsiao-Ping)). We see how politics apart from, but very connected to, Mao's vision of "continual revolution to route the rightist capitalist roaders" kept feeding the Revolution victims until it consumed those who created the CCP. And that includes the ones who most benefited from the Cultural Revolution's chaos.

For those who want to know more about China and the Chinese of today, this is an invaluable resource. Just be prepared for the density of the work.

22 comments 64 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Interesting, though specialized; but don't buy the Kindle version

BySteve HarrisonVINE VOICEon November 24, 2012

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

"Mao's Last Revolution" is not about Mao. And it is not really about the Cultural Revolution. Instead it tells the story of how high governmental officials and organizations were affected by the Cultural Revolution and how they jockeyed with each other, and with Mao, in deciding how to react to it. The point of the title is that the revolution was Mao's idea and that even people immediately below him didn't know what was going on, what the point of it was, or what they were supposed to do about it. The book describes the actual events of the revolution indirectly, if at all. It seems at times to assume that the reader already has a good basic knowledge of the Cultural Revolution and of the Great Leap Forward; that knowledge is not essential but is helpful.

The book is well-written and useful, though more for those with a special interest in the Cultural Revolution than for the general reader.

The Kindle version does not contain any of the book's photographs. To add insult to injury it does contain their captions -- with an instruction to refer to the printed version for the photos themselves! Nothing on the product page (now, at any rate), reveals that. In my opinion this is essentially misrepresentation on Amazon's part. The Kindle version also contains the formatting errors that we are becoming accustomed to seeing -- hyphens between paragraphs, gaps between words, etc. I read it on an iPad but at least one other review here also complains about this so its apparently not an iPad-only problem. And the footnotes are not hyperlinked.

I've been reading Kindle books since they were introduced. You would expect the technology to improve over time. But as Kindles are becoming more expensive they are also becoming shoddier.

0Comment 15 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Keep Wikipedia handy, and be aware of Kindle shortfalls

ByBenjamin Lefebvreon August 21, 2011

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

First of all, this book is a very valuable source of information relating to the Cultural Revolution - its why's, how's and who's. Knowing next to nothing about this important part of Chinese history, I felt that I was getting a great education, at least regarding the government level of what happened.
Having said that, I would offer two caveats. The first is that if you're not familiar with the who's who of Chinese Communist leaders in the 1960s or 70s, or the history of the Great Leap Forward, I would suggest you keep your Wikipedia handy (I read this right after consuming "Mao's Great Famine," and I still occasionally had problems keeping up with who was who). A little bit of background knowledge will carry you a long way when reading this book, especially in the first few chapters of what is otherwise a fascinating read.
The second problem is with the Kindle version, which I purchased. In plain language, you're getting gypped. Typos are common (formatting problems?) and in one or two cases almost make the text incomprehensible. Worse, there isn't even an attempt to include historic photographs. It's laughable - you pay near the price for the new paperback, but when it comes to dozens of photos you have to make due with a caption of the non-included photo and the phrase "To view this image, refer to the print version of this title." What a joke. If I would have known of these deficiencies, I would have bought a used version of the book.

0Comment 21 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Most Recent Customer Reviews

Five Stars

Well researched.

Published 3 months ago by Amazon Customer

Four Stars

Extremely well researched given the difficulty in obtaining source materials from China especially for this period.

Published 7 months ago by RSJ

Worth The Read

Mao Zedong’s notion that the population of China was expendable for the cause of revolution, no matter how many suffered, warrants further examination into understanding the...Read more

Published 9 months ago by Amazon Customer

Fills an important gap in our knowledge

This book bears comparison to the best analyses of Stalin's Russia. Most readers may feel overwhelmed by the flood of unfamiliar names, but the story is well told and gives a rare...Read more

Published 11 months ago by John Desmond

SUPER WORTHY！

LESS THAN $5 AND LOOKS ALMOST NEW , TOTALLY WORTHY IT!

Published 1 year ago by Xavier Shue

Four Stars

It is a fine work of historical research.

Published on August 9, 2014 by Miguel A. Rivera Rios

MAO UNLEASHED HELL IN 1966

China's cultural revolution was a horrible thing. I was in middle school and high school in NYC at the time.Read more

Published on July 8, 2014 by Pacem in Terris

As observed by Edward Gibbon

(Disclaimer: this reviewer has not visited China and has no professional expertise on China. This is strictly a book review, and not an assessment of Chinese politics.Read more

Published on December 25, 2013 by James R. Maclean

Complete and unabridged

This book as as much detail as I could enjoy. It's so very full of information about the cultural revolution that it makes for a long and fulfilling read.Read more

Published on October 14, 2013 by Wayne Joerding

As observed by Edward Gibbon

(Disclaimer: this reviewer has not visited China and has no professional expertise on China. This is strictly a book review, and not an assessment of Chinese politics.Read more

Published on September 1, 2013 by James R. Maclean

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