A Critical Introduction to Mao

by Edited by Timothy Cheek

• ISBN13: 9780521711548
• ISBN10: 0521711541
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-08-23
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Mao Zedong's political career spanned more than half a century. The ideas he championed transformed one of the largest nations on earth and inspired revolutionary movements across the world. Even today Mao lives on in China, where he is regarded by many as a near-mythical figure, and in the West, where a burgeoning literature continues to debate his memory. In this book, leading scholars from different generations and around the world offer a critical evaluation of the life and legacy of China's most famous - some would say infamous - son. The book brings the scholarship on Mao up to date, and its alternative perspectives equip readers to assess for themselves the nature of this mercurial figure and his significance in modern Chinese history.

Author Biography

Timothy Cheek is Professor and Louis Cha Chair in Chinese Research at the Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia. His research, teaching, and translating focus on the recent history of China, especially the role of Chinese intellectuals in the twentieth century and the history of the Chinese Communist Party. He has written numerous papers and six books, including Living with Reform: China Since 1989 (2006) and Mao Zedong and China's Revolutions: A Brief History with Documents (2002).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
About the Contributors	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Timeline of Twentieth-Century China	p. xv
Maps	p. xviii
Mao's World
Mao, Revolution, and Memory	p. 3
Making Revolution in Twentieth-Century China	p. 31
From Urban Radical to Rural Revolutionary: Mao from the 1920s to 1937	p. 61
War, Cosmopolitanism, and Authority: Mao from 1937 to 1956	p. 87
Consuming Fragments of Mao Zedong: The Chairman's Final Two Decades at the Helm	p. 110
Mao and His Followers	p. 129
Mao, Mao Zedong Thought, and Communist Intellectuals	p. 169
Gendered Mao: Mao, Maoism, and Women	p. 196
Mao the Man and Mao the Icon	p. 219
Mao's Legacy
For Truly Great Men, Look to This Age Alone: Was Mao Zedong a New Emperor?	p. 243
Recent Mao Zedong Scholarship in China	p. 273
Third World Maoism	p. 288
Mao's Journeys to the West: Meanings Made of Mao	p. 313
Two Perspectives on Mao Zedong	p. 332
Appendix: Selected Further Readings (Annotated)	p. 353
Index	p. 357
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