Title

Mao : a life

Description

An unsentimental portrait of Mao explores the life of the peasant who rose to the position of "chairman" of China's communist party and absolute ruler of the country, overseeing both brilliant reform and terrible butchery during his long reign.

Identifier

858017

805031154

Creator

Short, Philip

Format

1st American ed.

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

2000

Program air date: April 2, 2000

Publisher

Henry Holt

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Front endpapers contain biographical information on Mao's family, his closeness with his mother and his hatred for his father, his arranged marriage at age 14 to a woman six years older than him, and on the books that influenced him. Other notes refer to The Communist International (Comintern) and a few of its representatives, AB-tuan leaders - the Anti-Bolshevik League, Mao's 1927 'Report on the Peasant Movement in Hunan', in which he calls for a peasant uprising and espoused the use of violence, and the long political partnership beween Mao, a peasant to his roots, and Zhou Enlai, a mandarin's son. Back endpapers include notes on the May Fourth Movement in 1919, the Day of the Horse incident in 1927 when landlord militias "visited horrific reprisals on the peasants", on the 1937 advance of the Japanese Army across China's northern plain against which Russia wanted Mao's CCP and Chiang Kai-shek's GMD to form a united front, on Lin Biao's opinion of Mao as a "genius in leadership", Mao's rise to become Chairman of the Politburo in 1943, the Dixie Mission which refers to a meeting in Yan'an with Major-General Patrick Hurley, a comparison of Mao's and Chiang Kai-shek's troop strengths in late 1944, on Mao's announcement in 1947 that 640,000 nationalist soldiers had been killed or wounded, the subsequent massive support of the nationalists by the U.S., Chiang-Kai-shek's eventual resignation as president after losing Beijing, and Mao's agreement with Stalin. Additional notes refer to Stalin's betrayal of China in the Korean War, the Cultural Revolution in 1966 which pledged to destroy old thinking, the 27 year long duration of Mao's rule, and Chen Yun's assessment of Mao. Also listed are these names: Agnes Smedley, Lily Wu, Sidney Rittenberg, Edgar Snow, Nym Wales and Teddy White. In Mao's opinion his victory over Chiang Kai-shek and his launching of the Cultural Revolution were his two major accomplishments. These statements and quotes are included in the notes: "You say Mao was a visionary / statesman / political and military strategist of genius / philosopher and poet." -- "[He] died of deliberate medical neglect" - what is it?" -- "Mao's study of Chrysanthemum fragrance". - "Who was Sidney Rittenberg? - He marched with Mao's column out of Yan'an." -- "When and how did the Soviets first get involved in China?" -- "When was the Politburo established? What was it?" -- "Mao compared himself to Emperors of the Qin, the Han, the Tang and the Song and Genghis Khan." -- Annotations by Brian Lamb in the margins and underlining of pertinent phrases throughout the book. -- Examples: p. 202: "He now put forward a far-reaching proposal, which sought to reconcile the party's policy of 'land nationalization' and the land hunger of the poor. 'All the land,' he told the provincial committee, 'including that of small landlords and owner-peasants ... [should be taken] into public ownership' and redistributed 'fairly' (a demand for which, afterwards, endless ink and blood would be spilled) on the basis of each family's labor power and the number of mouths it had to feed." -- p. 401: "Their personalities were utterly different: contemporary photographs showed Mao in a baggy blue suit with a round Sun Yat-sen collar and an incongruous, light-grey pith helmet over his long, unkempt hair, while Generalissimo Chiang, immaculately groomed, wore a crisply pressed military uniform."

Subject

"Mao, Zedong, 1893-1976."

"Heads of state--China--Biography."

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

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