Mao: The Unknown Story (2005)

This breathtaking biography of one of the 20th century's greatest villains is written with the fiery passion of personal involvement. Jung Chang's family suffered for their privileged position as intellectual upper party members during the Cultural Revolution. While Mao's life is presented from a hostile perspective, it looks to me firmly grounded in fact. The husband and wife team interviewed hundreds of people in China and around the globe (from Albania to Zaire) about Mao. Page after page of interviewees offers testimony to their exhaustive research as does the 58 pages long bibliography.

The most surprising fact about Mao was that he didn't believe in communism. From his early Randian ramblings on, he was interested in power. Joining the Communists. If another party had offered him a better way to power, he would have jumped ship. Not feeling any allegiance to party and idea proved to be a tactical advantage in the power struggle with his peers who often chose to sacrifice themselves for the party's sake. In contrast to most human beings, Mao only cared about himself, abandoning allies, wives and his children without qualms. Chiang Kai-shek let himself be controlled by Stalin holding his son hostage. Mao didn't care about the fate of his son held by Stalin.

Mao's supreme management incompetence is another unexpected finding of this biography. Time and time again, Mao managed to exhaust and destroy territories and armies put under his command. Most of his rivals were much more capable in command. Like a clumsy cat, Mao managed to land on his feet and walk elegantly away from the debris of his latest catastrophe. Despite a track record of failure, Mao fell upward and upward. Stalin somehow admired his survivor capability. Mao would not quit.

Regarding his management style, he was supreme at using Richard Nixon's Orthogonian technique of relying on building coalitions of less efficient but totally dependent toadies. They knew that they owed their position to Mao, a fact Mao made clear by humiliating them in public, again and again. Mao's meanness knew no bound: He even denied Zhou Enlai cancer treatment.

The biography also reveals that many of the commonly told stories need to be revised, e.g. Mao and the Communist leadership did not march but was carried on litters by starving and dying porters during the Long March. The Communists were also not in danger from Chiang Kai-shek who had pre-arranged the destination of the march with Stalin and used the Communists to gain entry into warlord-dominated Sichuan. Only when Mao foolishly deviated from the script was blood shed. Mao also needlessly prolonged the march by senseless deviations. He also didn't fight the Japanese during WWII, using them to weaken Chang Kai-shek and waiting for the war to end.

Overall, a stunning read about the 20th century's greatest butcher. One wonders where China might be now if its economic recovery process had started at the same time as the Wirtschaftswunder. Highly recommended. ( )

Forget everything you learned in school about Chairman Mao! This book corrects countless misconceptions and reveals the unvarnished truth about one of the most evil leaders in world history. ( )

9

Clearly and lucidly written, this account of Mao is a significant advance in the West's understanding of 20th Century China. According to the book, Mao's policies led to the death of 70 million Chinese after the civil war had ended in 1949. Determined to use food exports to gain international leverage, Mao kept the population so short of food that millions died. He had no compunction about torture and execution; he even set targets for state sponsored murder. The extraordinary thing is how his control over China meant that very little of these facts emerged during his lifetime.

Mao's amoral nature shines through this history. He really doesn't seem to care about the deaths he has caused; indeed, he thinks they are unimportant compared to turning himself into the world's leader. His colleagues are all pawns in his quest for power and determination to keep it, regularly at risk of denunciation, torture or murder. He treats his family, his wives and his children appallingly. The Mao in this book has no redeeming features, which seems odd; no matter how bad they are, most people have some kind of attractive characteristic. No doubt because of that, some reviewers have complained it has an anti-Mao bias; but the authors are careful to analyse their subject through recitation of facts rather than rhetoric. It is the facts than condemn Mao as a cynical, self absorbed and selfish, mass-murdering psychopath.

For anyone with an interest in China or twentieth century history this is worth reading. It isn't, though well written, an easy read, because of both the subject matter and as it is so densely packed with information. ( )

This is one of those biographies that astounds. Many of the common assumptions about Mao are turned on their head. He is portrayed as a selfish, sadistic, monomaniacal leader who cared only about his own rise to power--and damn the consequences! According to the authors, he killed more people than Hitler and Stalin combined! Some reviewers have called this a polemic rather than a definitive, academically sound biography because so many of the authors' conclusions are based on unverifiable interviews. But I don't think anyone disagrees with the basic assumption, that Mao was a master myth maker and liar, and his ability to absorb events into his legend was his greatest gift. His Machiavellian activities continued to his last breath on his deathbed. Well written and compelling, if a bit long. ( )