Mao: The Unknown Story
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In the epilogue to her biography of Mao Tse-tung, Jung Chang and her husband and cowriter Jon Halliday lament that, "Today, Mao's portrait and his corpse still dominate Tiananmen Square in the heart of the Chinese capital." For Chang, author of Wild Swans, this fact is an affront, not just to history, but to decency. Mao: The Unknown Story does not contain a formal dedication, but it is clear that Chang is writing to honor the millions of Chinese who fell victim to Mao's drive for absolute power in his 50-plus-year struggle to dominate China and the 20th-century political landscape. From the outset, Chang and Halliday are determined to shatter the "myth" of Mao, and they succeed with the force, not just of moral outrage, but of facts. The result is a book, more indictment than portrait, that paints Mao as a brutal totalitarian, a thug, who unleashed Stalin-like purges of millions with relish and without compunction, all for his personal gain. Through the authors' unrelenting lens even his would-be heroism as the leader of the Long March and father of modern China is exposed as reckless opportunism, subjecting his charges to months of unnecessary hardship in order to maintain the upper hand over his rival, Chang Kuo-tao, an experienced military commander.
Using exhaustive research in archives all over the world, Chang and Halliday recast Mao's ascent to power and subsequent grip on China in the context of global events. Sino-Soviet relations, the strengths and weakness of Chiang Kai-shek, the Japanese invasion of China, World War II, the Korean War, the disastrous Great Leap Forward, the vicious Cultural Revolution, the Vietnam War, Nixon's visit, and the constant, unending purges all, understandably, provide the backdrop for Mao's unscrupulous but invincible political maneuverings and betrayals. No one escaped unharmed. Rivals, families, peasants, city dwellers, soldiers, and lifelong allies such as Chou En-lai were all sacrificed to Mao's ambition and paranoia. Appropriately, the authors' consciences are appalled. Their biggest fear is that Mao will escape the global condemnation and infamy he deserves. Their astonishing book will go a long way to ensure that the pendulum of history will adjust itself accordingly. --Silvana Tropea
10 Second Interview: A Few Words with Jung Chang and Jon Halliday
Q: From idea to finished book, how long did Mao: The Unknown Story take to research and write?
A: Over a decade.
Q: What was your writing process like? How did you two collaborate on this project?
A: The research shook itself out by language. Jung did all the Chinese-language research, and Jon did the other languages, of which Russian was the most important, as Mao had a long-term intimate relationship with Stalin. After our research trips around the world, we would work in our separate studies in London. We would then rendezvous at lunch to exchange discoveries.
Q: Do you have any thoughts about how the book is, or will be received in China? Did that play a part in your writing of the book?
A: The book is banned in China, because the current Communist regime is fiercely perpetuating the myth of Mao. Today Mao's portrait and his corpse still dominate Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing, and the regime declares itself to be Mao's heir. The government blocked the distribution of an issue of The Far Eastern Economic Review, and told the magazine's owners, Dow Jones, that this was because that issue contained a review of our book. The regime also tore the review of our book out of The Economist magazine that was going to (very restricted) newsstands. We are not surprised that the book is banned. The regime's attitude had no influence on how we wrote the book. We hope many copies will find their way into China.
Q: What is the one thing you hope readers get from your book?
A: Mao was responsible for the deaths of well over 70 million Chinese in peacetime, and he was bent on dominating the world. As China is today emerging as an economic and military power, the world can never regard it as a benign force unless Beijing rejects Mao and all his legacies. We hope our book will help push China in this direction by telling the truth about Mao.
Q: From idea to finished book, how long did Mao: The Unknown Story take to research and write?A: Over a decade.
Q: What was your writing process like? How did you two collaborate on this project?
A: The research shook itself out by language. Jung did all the Chinese-language research, and Jon did the other languages, of which Russian was the most important, as Mao had a long-term intimate relationship with Stalin. After our research trips around the world, we would work in our separate studies in London. We would then rendezvous at lunch to exchange discoveries.
Q: Do you have any thoughts about how the book is, or will be received in China? Did that play a part in your writing of the book?
A: The book is banned in China, because the current Communist regime is fiercely perpetuating the myth of Mao. Today Mao's portrait and his corpse still dominate Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing, and the regime declares itself to be Mao's heir. The government blocked the distribution of an issue of The Far Eastern Economic Review, and told the magazine's owners, Dow Jones, that this was because that issue contained a review of our book. The regime also tore the review of our book out of The Economist magazine that was going to (very restricted) newsstands. We are not surprised that the book is banned. The regime's attitude had no influence on how we wrote the book. We hope many copies will find their way into China.
Q: What is the one thing you hope readers get from your book?
A: Mao was responsible for the deaths of well over 70 million Chinese in peacetime, and he was bent on dominating the world. As China is today emerging as an economic and military power, the world can never regard it as a benign force unless Beijing rejects Mao and all his legacies. We hope our book will help push China in this direction by telling the truth about Mao.
Breakdown of a BIG Book: 5 Things You'll Learn from Mao: The Unknown Story
1. Mao became a Communist at the age of 27 for purely pragmatic reasons: a job and income from the Russians.
2. Far from organizing the Long March in 1934, Mao was nearly left behind by his colleagues who could not stand him and had tried to oust him several times. The aim of the March was to link up with Russia to get arms. The Reds survived the March because Chiang Kai-shek let them, in a secret horse-trade for his son and heir, whom Stalin was holding hostage in Russia.
3. Mao grew opium on a large scale.
4. After he conquered China, Mao's over-riding goal was to become a superpower and dominate the world: "Control the Earth," as he put it.
5. Mao caused the greatest famine in history by exporting food to Russia to buy nuclear and arms industries: 38 million people were starved and slave-driven to death in 1958-61. Mao knew exactly what was happening, saying: "half of China may well have to die."
From Publishers Weekly
Jung Chang, author of the award-winning Wild Swans, grew up during the Cultural Revolution; Halliday is a research fellow at King's College, University of London. They join forces in this sweeping but flawed biography, which aims to uncover Mao's further cruelties (beyond those commonly known) by debunking claims made by the Communist Party in his service. For example, the authors argue that, far from Mao's humble peasant background shaping his sympathies for the downtrodden, he actually ruthlessly exploited the peasants' resources when he was based in regions such as Yenan, and cared about peasants only when it suited his political agenda. And far from having founded the Chinese Communist Party, the authors argue, Mao was merely at the right place at the right time. Importantly, the book argues that in most instances Mao was able to hold on to power thanks to his adroitness in appealing to and manipulating powerful allies and foes, such as Stalin and later Nixon; furthermore, almost every aspect of his career was motivated by a preternatural thirst for personal power, rather than political vision. Some of the book's claims rely on interviews and on primary material (such as the anguished letters Mao's second wife wrote after he abandoned her), though the book's use of sources is sometimes incompletely documented and at times heavy-handed (for example, using a school essay the young Mao wrote to show his lifelong ruthlessness). Illus., maps. (Oct. 21)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --Ce texte fait référence à l'édition Relié .
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --Ce texte fait référence à l'édition Relié .
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Couverture | Copyright | Table des matières | Extrait | Index | Quatrième de couverture
Couverture | Copyright | Table des matières | Extrait | Index | Quatrième de couverture
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21 internautes sur 23 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile
5.0 étoiles sur 5
Ombre Chinoise,
Par Jean Justice "amateur_de_belles_choses" (Paris France) - Voir tous mes commentaires
Ce commentaire fait référence à cette édition : Mao : L'histoire inconnue (Broché)
Rédigé par une ex-Garde Rouge et son mari, historien britannique, cette monumentale biographie de Mao a pour objectif de dissiper un mystère qui a tant fasciné l'Occident : la vraie personnalité du « grand timonier » de la Chine Populaire.Autant être direct : il s'agit d'un implacable réquisitoire contre un des tyran les plus sanguinaire de l'Histoire. Tour à tour il nous apparaît comme égocentrique, par delà les rapports avec sa famille et ses proches ; mégalomane, notamment dans sa délirante obsession à faire à tout prix de la Chine une superpuissance ; cynique et manipulateur, dans sa gestion des pouvoirs à l'intérieur du PCC. De fait, Mao une fois brisée la couche de propagande inhérente aux régimes communistes ressemble à l'archétype du despote oriental, autant avide de plaisirs que véritable fléau pour son peuple, ici en l'occurrence, la paysannerie de l'Empire du Milieu. Seul son remarquable sens politique distingue ce fils de la petite bourgeoisie rurale du Hunan. Ainsi, dans la conquête du parti, puis du pays, dans la gestion des rapports ambigus entretenus avec son complice et rival Staline et ses successeurs, plus encore avec l'ouverture accordée aux américains, sans oublier les purges régulières qui lui ont assuré un pouvoir personnel jusqu'au bout, il se révèle un authentique animal politique sachant liquider la menace, d'où qu'elle vienne. En définitive, méprisant sa propre postérité, il ne fera rien pour empêcher Deng Xiao Ping d'éliminer ses complices, (dont sa dernière épouse) plus tard connus sous l'appellation de « bande des quatre ». Organisant un omniprésent culte de la personnalité, Mao incarne un Empereur Rouge autant inaccessible et secret que les Fils du Ciel. Une dynastie pourtant exécrée alors qu'étudiant radical il complotait afin de la renverser. Une partie du voile est levée avec ce travail colossal réalisé par les auteurs qui ont eu, notamment, accès à de nombreuses sources issues de l'Ex URSS. Reste à écrire l'Histoire du système, tache gigantesque et non encore d'actualité tant que le Parti Communiste demeurera le parti unique au pouvoir. Surtout que, comme le déplorent les auteurs, les dirigeants actuels -même réformateurs- se réclament toujours de l'héritage de Mao Tsé Toung. Aidez d'autres clients à trouver les commentaires les plus utiles
4 internautes sur 4 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile
5.0 étoiles sur 5
Enfin , la verité !,
Par Appolonius (france) - Voir tous mes commentaires
Ce commentaire fait référence à cette édition : Mao : L'histoire inconnue (Broché)
J'ai lu tout ce qui existe en français sur Mao.Cette biographie est la plus complète, est de loin la plus fidèle à la réalité. Chose très rare pour le personnage.Elle est pour moi LA référence avec le livre du docteur Lee, son médecin personnel durant plus de 25 ans. Un ouvrage brillant, à lire sans la moindre hésitation ! Aidez d'autres clients à trouver les commentaires les plus utiles
32 internautes sur 38 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile
5.0 étoiles sur 5
A ranger aux côtés de Hitler et de Staline,
Par Jules Alexandre Théophraste de Corvée de Ch.... (Aix-en-Provence, France) - Voir tous mes commentaires (TOP 500 COMMENTATEURS) (TESTEURS)
Ce commentaire fait référence à cette édition : Mao : L'histoire inconnue (Broché)
Les gens de ma génération, celle qui avait 18 ans en 1968, ont été éduqués dans la vénération du grand timonier. Les "élites" (sic) actuelles ont été "éduquées" dans son culte (pensons avec émotion à Serge July, Alain Geismar (le réformateur de l'éducation nationale!), les pîtres BHL, Sollers et bien d'autres).Comprendre MAO, c'est comprendre l'imposture intellectuelle de cette époque: Le livre nous montre clairement qu'il n'avait aucune empathie pour son prochain, ce n'était même pas un idéologue, simplement un individu qui n'avait comme but que lui-même et le pouvoir, sans aucune compassion pour les 70 millions de chinois qu'il a fait tuer en temps de paix. Il voulait tout simplement devenir le maître du monde, il meurt triste, s'appitoyant sur son sort.... On comprend parfaitement, à la lecture du livre, les histoires cachées du grand bond "en avant", de la révolution culturelle, de la rupture avec Lin Piao, le rôle ambigu de Chouen Laï - que Mao refuse de faire soigner pour âtre sûr qu'il meurt avant lui - le rôle de Mao dans la venue au pouvoir des khmers rouges qui incarnaient exactement ce qu'il voulait faire en Chine. Ce livre est à lire en parallèle avec la biographie de Hitler par Ian KershawHitler pour comprendre la psychologie des personnages. Aidez d'autres clients à trouver les commentaires les plus utiles
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