Tombstone

The Great Chinese Famine, 1958-1962

De: Yang Jisheng, Edward Friedman - editor/introduction, Stacy Mosher - translator/editor, Guo Jian - translator/editor, Roderick MacFarquhar - introduction

Narrado por: Nancy Wu

The much-anticipated definitive account of China's Great Famine

An estimated 36 million Chinese men, women, and children starved to death during China's Great Leap Forward in the late 1950s and early '60s. One of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, the famine is poorly understood, and in China is still euphemistically referred to as "the three years of natural disaster".

As a journalist with privileged access to official and unofficial sources, Yang Jisheng spent 20 years piecing together the events that led to mass nationwide starvation, including the death of his own father. Finding no natural causes, Yang attributes responsibility for the deaths to China's totalitarian system and the refusal of officials at every level to value human life over ideology and self-interest.

Tombstone is a testament to inhumanity and occasional heroism that pits collective memory against the historical amnesia imposed by those in power.

©2008 Yang Jisheng (P)2021 Tantor

A must read if you are interested in evil

I wish Harvard would have translated the book in its entirety. Information on the evils of communism!

Terrifying insight into how these kinds of things happen over and over.

Important information for anyone interested in understanding how humans can use good intentions to destroy millions of lives.

Very Impressive

I am writing this review chiefly to remark how wonderful the narration was. I wish Ms. Wu could read all my nonfiction books.

really interesting!

don't let the reviews complaining about too many numbers dissuade you, I was totally captivated!

Refreshing to listen to a narrator that can actually pronouce Chinese names

The book is highly detailed yet digestible, and essential for anyone interested in the Great Leap Forward and accompanying famine. And it was so refreshing to actually hear Chinese names pronounced properly, unlike most audio books which just throw any narrator in there, regardless of their background with a foreign language.

Top notch and very necessary information

I’m very thankful for Jisheng’s work creating this book. It is a warning to us all of how easy it is for governments and populations to follow erroneous philosophies that lead to mass death and suffering.
He tackles various aspects of the topic with precision in tailored chapters, therefore filling in the gaps in an organized and strategic way.

Very detailed and interesting

Not a great book for audio. Lots of statistics. But fascinating nonetheless. Learned a lot.