{"product_id":"was-mao-really-a-monster-the-academic-response-to-chang-and-hallidays-mao-the-unknown-story-paperback","title":"Was Mao Really a Monster?: The Academic Response to Chang and Halliday's Mao: The Unknown Story - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eGregor Benton\u003c\/b\u003e (Editor), \u003cb\u003eLin Chun\u003c\/b\u003e (Editor)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMao: The Unknown Story\u003c\/em\u003e by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday was published in 2005 to a great fanfare. The book portrays Mao as a monster - equal to or worse than Hitler and Stalin - and a fool who won power by native cunning and ruled by terror. It received a rapturous welcome from reviewers in the popular press and rocketed to the top of the worldwide bestseller list. Few works on China by writers in the West have achieved its impact. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eReviews by serious China scholars, however, tended to take a different view. Most were sharply critical, questioning its authority and the authors' methods, arguing that Chang and Halliday's book is not a work of balanced scholarship, as it purports to be, but a highly selective and even polemical study that sets out to demonise Mao. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book brings together sixteen reviews of \u003cem\u003eMao: The Unknown Story\u003c\/em\u003e - all by internationally well-regarded specialists in modern Chinese history, and published in relatively specialised scholarly journals. Taken together they demonstrate that Chang and Halliday's portrayal of Mao is in many places woefully inaccurate. While agreeing that Mao had many faults and was responsible for some disastrous policies, they conclude that a more balanced picture is needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGregor Benton\u003c\/strong\u003e is Professor of Chinese History at Cardiff University. His book \u003cem\u003eMountain Fires: The Red Army's Three-Year War in South China, 1934-1938\u003c\/em\u003e won several awards, including the Association of Asian Studies' best book on modern China. Recent work includes \u003cem\u003eChinese Migrants and Internationalism: Forgotten Histories, 1917-1945\u003c\/em\u003e; \u003cem\u003eMao Zedong and the Chinese Revolution\u003c\/em\u003e (also published by Routledge) \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLin Chun \u003c\/strong\u003eis Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics, UK. She is the author of a number of books, of which the most recent is \u003cem\u003eThe Transformation of Chinese Socialism\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 200\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.5 x 9.1 x 6.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 01, 2009\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43806901796999,"sku":"9780415493307","price":123.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/M3RcpfbCLV9780415493307.webp?v=1770241880","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/was-mao-really-a-monster-the-academic-response-to-chang-and-hallidays-mao-the-unknown-story-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}