Mao

The Unknown Story

By: Jung Chang, Jon Halliday

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 29 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

“Ever since the spectacular success of Chang’s Wild Swans we have waited impatiently for her to complete with her husband this monumental study of China’s most notorious modern leader. The expectation has been that she would rewrite modern Chinese history. The wait has been worthwhile and the expectation justified. This is a bombshell of a book.” (Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong, in The Times, London)

Based on a decade of research and on interviews with many of Mao’s close circle in China who have never talked before - and with virtually everyone outside China who had significant dealings with him - this is the most authoritative life of Mao ever written. It is full of startling revelations, exploding the myth of the Long March, and showing a completely unknown Mao: he was not driven by idealism or ideology; his intimate and intricate relationship with Stalin went back to the 1920s, ultimately bringing him to power; he welcomed Japanese occupation of much of China; and he schemed, poisoned and blackmailed to get his way.

After Mao conquered China in 1949, his secret goal was to dominate the world. In chasing this dream he caused the deaths of 38 million people in the greatest famine in history. In all, well over 70 million Chinese perished under Mao’s rule - in peacetime.

Combining meticulous research with the story-telling style of Wild Swans, this biography offers a harrowing portrait of Mao’s ruthless accumulation of power through the exercise of terror: his first victims were the peasants, then the intellectuals and, finally, the inner circle of his own advisors. The listeners enters the shadowy chambers of Mao’s court and eavesdrops on the drama in its hidden recesses. Mao’s character and the enormity of his behavior toward his wives, mistresses and children are unveiled for the first time.

This is an entirely fresh look at Mao in both content and approach. It will astonish historians and the general listener alike.

©2005 Jung Chang and Jon Halliday (P)2006 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"Sweeping." (Publishers Weekly)

"Chang and Halliday cast new and revealing light on nearly every episode in Mao's tumultuous life…a stupendous work and one hopes that it will be brought before the Chinese people, who still claim to venerate the man and who have yet to come to terms with their own history...." (Michael Yahuda, The Guardian)

"Boasts a monumental marshaling of detail and historiographically overturning revelations." (Booklist)

A Revealing Look into a Very Nefarious Character

If you could sum up Mao in three words, what would they be?

Mao is "complex", "sophisticated", and "Nefarious".

What did you like best about this story?

I felt the story was told from an objective first hand experience.

What does Robertson Dean bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The depth and understanding that Robertson Dean brought to the story is something that would take a great deal of effort to bring out from the written text alone.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The moment that particularly moved me was more like a gradual realization of the momentum of the story as a whole that brought me to the point of understanding that Mao was the culmination of what happens when a mind accepts no principles but his own. Left to rule himself by his own desires, Mao caused the deaths of millions of people in China and left a nation wrecked by moral degradation: the country we now see before us today.

Any additional comments?

Mao may have been one of the most influential people in the modern world because of the profound effect he had on the political philosophy of China, and even beyond. Anyone wishing to gain a deeper insightful understanding of China should listen to this book!

Revelatory and amazing. Highly recommend

Content you have never heard before, but will wonder why you haven't when you do

Banned for a reason!

A great book about the (in my opinion) worst human to have ever lived. Down with the CCP!

Good, but for the names

Why does it seem to be so difficult to find someone who can pronounce Chinese names properly?

Great Story from a Lesser-Known Communist-Feminist

Mao Zedong is a bit of a mystery in the west. Sure, we are told he did a lot of bad things but do we really know the person. Where did he come from? Who is he? What did he do? All of these questions will be answered when reading this book.

Loved it

Great read that I highly recommend. He learned from Stalin how to kill enemies. Mao had several wives and children and didn't care about any of them. If the Chinese really know who Mao was they would rethink Communism. Mao was in my view worse than Hitler.

Desperately needing re-recording.

This is 2019. China has long emerged as a world power. It is shameful that the reader selected to read this book was chosen though he lacks any ability to read or pronounce the Chinese words using the official romanization system, pinyin. Should these have been Spanish words interspersed throughout a reading, it is hard to imagine that Audible would carry a recording of it that butchered the Spanish pronunciation, rendering it nearly incomprehensible. In this reading, nearly unintelligible place names and historical figures at pivotal points in the book take away from the story on the whole. The book stands on its own and I won’t comment on it. It is definitely not a book for the faint of heart and it details many atrocities in great detail. Much of it goes against most histories of that period of time and challenges popular notions. I am so appalled at the disrespect that carrying this butchered recording of this book shows. Re-Record the book.

Great book but a little hard to understand at times...

I love this book! Super helpful in understanding history. Overall I think the author does a great job reading however, his pronunciation of Chinese names and cities is not accurate at all and is a little painful to listen to at times. I feel like I’m miss out on which cities and people he is actually referring to at times. I think a book like this needs a reader who is a mandarin speaker, or someone a little more familiar with how things are pronounced to read it.

Well written, well read & VERY interesting

Enjoyable even for someone like me who knew NOTHING about Mao or China prior to diving into this book. The book is lengthy and I have to admit that I did zone out in a couple places but this in no way detracted from my enjoyment or understanding of the story. There's a lot to take in here, but rather than being daunted by the length and detail of the book, I would highly recommend giving it a listen and taking in what you can.

Wao!

It's cliche, but I could listen to Robertson Dean read the phone book in one sitting. I love everything about his speech and mannerism. He's simply the best narrator there is.

I ripped through this 26hr book in under a month, which may be a new record. It's that good.

The slow rise from fey, middle class academic to brutal sociopath warrants the time it takes for make the journey. In that way, the structure of the book serves the story. Dictatorships don't happen overnight. They take thought, planning.and careful manipulation of those around you. What's stunning, though, is how this thoroughly unlikable man managed to starve and murder tens of millions of his own people and remain in power. Often, especially in the last half of the book, I found myself screaming at my iPod for the citizens to start an actual revolution against Mao.

If there's a moral to the book, it's that education is the key. Keep the people ignorant and illiterate and dictatorship is easy. Mao continued to read voraciously as he destroyed the books and culture of those he was supposed to protect. Knowledge is power. Ignorance is powerlessness. Get the book and get some knowledge.