Roderick MacFarquhar (1930–2019)

I've become a little skeptical of large and sweeping "history of everything" books as I've become older, but this work is an exception as the authors use the most current documentation to try and sort out the chaotic violence that was the Great Chinese Cultural Revolution. The vision that one comes away with is of Mao as an old bandit who could not imagine that his time was ending, and who used parasitic hacks and cronies to attack the professionals who were trying to make Chinese society work, and thus retain power just a little longer.

Most striking is that the authors can demonstrate just how much of an actual civil war had been incited by Mao, particularly during the peak of the Red Guard period; the mind boggles at the image of the story of two competing student groups allegedly building radiological "dirty" bombs to use against each other.

More meat is also put on the whole mystery of Lin Biao, and whether he was a traitor or not. It would appear that Mao actually made the first move, because if all power flowed from the barrel of a gun, Mao wanted to make sure it was civilian leadership that had the finger on the trigger, and setting the marshal aside was the way to try and assure an acceptable succession. This is particularly since no truly workable heir was available and that Mao had done a fine job of destroying the party to save it.

As you watch the Chinese Communist Party tie itself into knots in 2012 over installing a new government, keep in mind that this is the deep background to a damaged institution that has never really recovered since 1966. Let's say that I'm not as hopeful as the authors that liberal developments will come out of the struggle to come to grips with Mao's poisoned heritage.… (mer)

Mao's Last Revolution is a very good look at the Cultural Revolution and immediate aftermath. Mao kept control through a series of 'one liners' and pithy sayings that had little value in running a country as large as China. His subordinates spent most of their time 'brown-nosing' Mao, plotting against others, or both. The result was a country that was barely functioning with many of the more capable individuals exiled for having a hint of a spine. Had those involved in the Revolution spent as much effort in the progress of the country as they did plotting; it is hard to imagine where China would be today. The only downside to reading this book was trying to keep track of who was who.… (mer)