Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World

A Concise History: Asia-Pacific: Culture, Politics, and Society

By: Rebecca E. Karl

Narrated by: Bobby Brill

Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Throughout this lively and concise historical account of Mao Zedong's life and thought, Rebecca E. Karl places the revolutionary leader's personal experiences, social visions and theory, military strategies, and developmental and foreign policies in a dynamic narrative of the Chinese revolution. She situates Mao and the revolution in a global setting informed by imperialism, decolonization, and third worldism, and discusses worldwide trends in politics, the economy, military power, and territorial sovereignty. Karl begins with Mao's early life in a small village in Hunan province, documenting his relationships with his parents, passion for education, and political awakening during the fall of the Qing dynasty in late 1911.

She traces his transition from liberal to Communist over the course of the next decade, his early critiques of the subjugation of women, and the gathering force of the May 4th movement for reform and radical change. Describing Mao's rise to power, she delves into the dynamics of Communist organizing in an overwhelmingly agrarian society, and Mao's confrontations with Chiang Kai-shek and other nationalist conservatives. She also considers his marriages and romantic liaisons and their relation to Mao as the revolutionary founder of Communism in China.

The book is published by Duke University Press.

©2010 Duke University Press (P)2015 Redwood Audiobooks

Great concise introduction to Mao and Chinese history

This is a great introduction to Mao and Chinese history. Rebecca E Karl presents a fair and balanced analysis of an extremely controversial period in Chinese history. The book does a great job of capturing the complex contradictions at the core of Mao, Mao Zedong thought, and Chinese society in the 20th century and does a good job of highlighting both Mao’s successes and failures. It was refreshing to read a book about China that was not completely ruined by the authors rabid anti-china/ anti-communist bias. It is clear that the author is sympathetic to the goals and ideals of the left while not blind to the lefts shortcomings in practice.

Excellent review of Mao’s life and time

Karl presents a concise but rich account of Mao’s life, accounting for the most recent historical scholarship and with lively prose. Thoughtful and rigorous presentation of what we know and honesty about what we may never know about one of history’s most important figures.

China & Mao

Excellent history. well written & narrated. enjoyable. a great read. fantastic. great fantastic great fantastic

A balanced view of Mao's life and legacy

Mao Zedong bestowed a complex and controversial legacy upon China, and the realities of his life and policies become more obscured year by year as China veers further away from the kind of radical egalitarianism for which he fought. In contrast to the Mao-as-monster theme of some other recent works on post-revolutionary China, Rebecca Karl has written a remarkably evenhanded presentation of The Great Helmsman that emphasizes the lifelong influence of his peasant roots and explains his radical political ideology of permanent revolution, while refusing to minimize the human toll from his rule or the scope of the failures of some of his most significant programs and policies. She does an excellent job of covering the major developments in Chinese history over the entire course of Mao's life. The book serves as an excellent introduction to Mao and to the story of the Chinese revolution and its aftermath, including the national turn towards a kind of despotic, state-controlled capitalism following Mao's death.