El. knyga: Mao: The Real Story

Draws on extensive, previously unavailable Russian documents to reveal surprising details about Mao Zedongs rise to power and leadership in China, providing coverage of such topics as his health, alleged affairs and controversial political decisions. Co-written by the author of The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Revolution 1919-1927. 50,000 first printing. Mao Zedong was one of the most important figures of the twentieth century, the most important in the history of modern China. A complex figure, he was both a champion of the poor and a brutal tyrant, a poet and a despot. In this major new biography, the authors draw upon extensive Russian documents previously unavailable to reveal surprising details about Mao’s rise to power, his leadership in China, and the true nature of his relationship with Stalin. Mao brought his country from poverty and economic backwardness into the modern age and onto the world stage. But he was also responsible for an unprecedented loss of life during the disastrous Great Leap Forward and the bloody Cultural Revolution. He lived and behaved as China’s last emperor. Mao is the full story of Mao’s life and rule told as never before.