Book Review [69] : Mao a life

To not read Mao or the modern China is like ignoring the life of 20% of the humanity\one of the three poles of the modern world\ one of the three (or four) political ideologies/systems. So i started reading biography of 'Mao A Life' by Philip Short, i bought this biography at Heathrow airport in 2008 and the bookshop owner gave me 70% discount on this may be wanted to get rid of the book ASAP.

Its a serious work on the life of a man who killed more people, either directly or indirectly than killed by Hitler and Stalin combined, and is still considered a "great" man and a large number of political parties were formed after his name, even in India.

Mao Zedong was born on 26th Dec 1893 in Hunan province in a peasant family, he was one of the founding members of Chinese Communist Party in early 1920s, he also joined KMT when CCP-KMT were allying against the warlords of China. He mastered the art of Guerrilla warfare and the art of deception. The Long March of 1934-35 established him as numero-uno in CCP, he became the Chairman of CCP and the dictator of Peoples Republic of China after defeating his arch rival Chiang Kai Shek of KMT on 1st Oct 1949. He made original contribution to the Class theory of Marx by successfully organizing peasants just like Lenin organized the workers in 1917. He unleashed two very brutal and megalomaniac blunders - The Great Leap Forward (1958-61) and The Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution (1966 -76); the first destroyed the agriculture sector and resulting famine killed atleast 30 mn people, while the other destroyed the ancient cultural artifacts of China both tangible and intangible. The entire period of his rule was marked by frequent purges of his dissenters and potential rivals, he betrayed his fellow comrades including the likes of Liu Shaoqi, Zhaou Enlai, Peng, Deng Xiaoping etc. He married 4 times and in later half of his life he became a notoriously promiscuous creature. In the end he died in Sept 1976. Just three later, Deng Xiaoping unleashed the "Capitalist" reforms in China. 

Some one rightly said about Mao - "Had he died in 1950s, his achievements would have been immortalized. Had he died is 1960s, still he would have become great man of China. But he died in 1976, so what we can say about him"

Overall its a good read, great work to know about modern China and Chairman Mao Zedong.

Recommended (7/10)