Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History

by Rebecca E. Karl

Throughout this lively and concise historical account of Mao Zedong’s life and thought, Rebecca E. Karl places the revolutionary leader’s personal experiences, social visions and theory, military strategies, and developmental and foreign policies in a dynamic narrative of the Chinese revolution. She situates Mao and the revolution in a global setting informed by imperialism, decolonization, and third worldism, and discusses worldwide trends in politics, the economy, military power, and territorial sovereignty. Karl begins with Mao’s early life in a small village in Hunan province, documenting his relationships with his parents, passion for education, and political awakening during the fall of the Qing dynasty in late 1911. She traces his transition from liberal to Communist over the course of the next decade, his early critiques of the subjugation of women, and the gathering force of the May 4th movement for reform and radical change. Describing Mao’s rise to power, she delves into the dynamics of Communist organizing in an overwhelmingly agrarian society, and Mao’s confrontations with Chiang Kaishek and other nationalist conservatives. She also considers his marriages and romantic liaisons and their relation to Mao as the revolutionary founder of Communism in China. After analyzing Mao’s stormy tenure as chairman of the People’s Republic of China, Karl concludes by examining his legacy in China from his death in 1976 through the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction, Biography, Politics, Asia, Read For School

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Joma Geneciran · Rating 3 out of 5]

A useful and accessible bourgeois account of Mao.

Parts of it were cringe-y but if you could see past that, it serves as a useful surface-introduction to Mao as a historical figure.

[sorrowmancer · Rating 5 out of 5]

extremely lucid brief introductory text on the topic. shoutout rebecca karl for being a "persona non grata" at nyu for wishing her employer stop supporting and profiting off the genocide of palestinians

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read several studies of modern China and Mao Zedong, this particular biographical and historical work, in contrast to others, has much to recommend it.
The most notable is that it is both academic and highly readable, a rare combination. Unlike the highly sensationalist Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang, this refrains from hyperbole, character judgements or assassinations, and instead focusing on the facts and the moods of the times. Secondly, the book is comparatively shorter than others, but contains just as much insight. One is not left wanting for insight, and nor is one overwhelmed with an excess of details and information.
The book covers both Mao himself and the world Mao acted in and shaped. As such, the book covers the Republican years, WWII, the Civil War and Mao in power, particularly the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, along with a chapter covering China after Mao.
Of particular note is the Yan'an period, as Rebecca Karl gives more insight into this than most other authors.
The book provides a great overview of Mao's life, legacy, and the various factors shaping Modern China, however, this book is recommendable to both those wanting to familiarize themselves with China and even experienced China hands as it is both highly readable and the perfect length, without lacking for material nor insight.

[Iza B. Aziz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saya tidaklah faham semua apa yang dihamparkan oleh penulis. Apatah lagi, digandingkan hasil terjemahan yang agak kaku. Namun saya berjaya juga habiskan dan mengetahui sesuatu yang baru tentang China.

Penulis membawa prespektif neutral tentang kerjaya keras Mao Zedong dalam membina era China moden. Konsep sosialis yang dibentuk oleh Mao menitikberatkan penduduk luar bandar dimana cukup berbeza dari ideologi asal Marxis-Leninis.
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Saya juga dapat mengenali kuncu-kuncu Mao yang setia dan juga dianggap pengkhianat. Memang drama pasang-surut sistem birokrasi dan Parti tak sudah. Lebih lagi Mao juga kelihatan gila kuasa dan bijak memanipulasi keadaan semasa.

Dari buku ini juga saya baru faham tentang hubungan Taiwan dan China. Dasar luar biasa sosialis seperti anak satu dan mengembalikan semula rasa gila tentang buku merah kecil tersimpan kata mukjizat Mao.
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Paling penting, Mao Zedong juga seorang pemimpin yang menyayangi tanah airnya. Cuma ideologinya sahaja yang berbeza. Perjuangan mengharungi penjajahan, perang saudara dan serangan sekatan luar cukup jitu.

Nasib Maoism kini hanya tinggal angan-angan bila China kini giat mengaut kaedah halus kapitalis. Jauh menyimpang dari impian revolusi pengasas CCP ini. Sepertinya birokrasi kini sedar dunia maju memerlukan suntikan kapitalis.

Sejauh, sedalam mana revolusi kiri yang dibawa oleh Mao Zedong pasti ada kanannya.
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[Henry Begler · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a bit dry, but mostly exactly what i wanted: a high-level overview of mao and 20th century china that didn’t shy away from criticism but presented a pretty even-handed view of mao’s successes and failures. it’s crazy that you can walk into a nice liberal bookstore in a nice liberal city with a huge display of feminist and anti-racist books and only find books on the famine and cultural revolution and get the impression that the century was nothing but an uninterrupted parade of suffering and death under a cruel tyrant who was just evil for evil’s sake. of course these things were awful and mao bears a lot of responsibility for them but it’s not like other things, some of them quite positive, didn’t happen in 20th century china. i had to get this book out of a university library! even the soviet union gets a more objective treatment in the mainstream.

anyway i learned a lot in this book including some stuff that surprised me, like the fact that mao actually lost a lot of power after the failure of the great leap forward, and the personality cult really emerged after he was politically sidelined, not before.

now i need to find a book on 21st century china that isn’t just “the oriental tyrant is rising to take our jobs,” which is probably an even taller order than finding a balanced take on mao. overall i really feel like our education system and media just does an awful job of evaluating other countries fairly and in good faith. like china is clearly the most important country in the world (besides america) to know about and yet it feels like you have to go far out of your way to learn.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

a hasty but effective imperialist summary of the development of china into its current form. history moves so quickly here that entire swaths and masses of it pass by in a single sentence or paragraph -- it often resembles something like a two hundred page wikipedia article. but worth it regardless for some heartfelt descriptions of mao the personality, what i found most interesting, the images of him stuffing leaves into his mouth, farting, his second wife wielding two guns at once on the back of a horse, cities covered in posters....

[Sugarpunksattack Mick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebecca E. Karl’s book ‘Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History’ is an extremely accessible account of Mao and the Chinese revolution. Karl focuses more on Mao’s life than on the overall revolutionary movement. Nonetheless, this short work thoroughly covers the context Mao is born into, shapes, and leaves behind.

Karl is sympathetic, yet critical of Mao and the Chinese revolution. They don’t hesitate to offer criticism of what they see as failures in leadership and in the programs implemented. They are also critical of the after effects of Mao’s passing which I think makes it clear they see the historical importance of the communist movement in china and I assume the ideological importance of communism. I recommend this book for someone new to Mao and the Chinese revolution and want a critical, but left perspective.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very concise (almost too much so imo) and easy to follow history of the Chinese Revolution. Mao as a military figure and insurgency leader, as well as philosopher is super interesting, but I still can't say I understand what "Maoism". I did gain a lot of insight into a high level understanding of the history of China, as well as the not often discussed occupation by Japan. I can see why Revolutionary China was so inspiring to leftists at the time.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebecca E. Karl's Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History, is an absolutely fantastic piece of scholarship. It has the nice attention to detail and controversy in historiography that shows her academic expertise and at the same time, she tells it all in a wonderfully succinct manner that makes the book accessible to someone who has never even read a book about modern China. It is filled with analyses of of events that are debated among historians as to their causes, effects, implications, and meanings. She does take her own stand on these issues after presenting some of the different sides to them, though. She is a historian after all. Looking at her bibliography, I can see why she came to some of the conclusions that she did, but I still disagree with a fair number of her points. She does do a great job of telling both the story of Mao Zedong's life and of China's history during his time and after in an excellent narrative fashion. She goes in the proper order, showing trends and major events with much attention to background reasons for their occurrences. It's a great read and I recommend it.

[Hemanaathan Ramu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Malay translated version of this book. This book explained very clearly using simple language about internal and external political factors that influenced Mao to execute some policies which received great support and opposed at the same time by the people of China. The author Rebecca’s way of narration was engaging and the chronological order of every event from beginning to ending well structured to avoid confusion. Kudos!

But from my pov as I mentioned earlier I read the Malay version, the translation comes with minimal spelling mistakes, typos here and there…Maybe the team should address this and fix it in future ..

Overall this book is very good experience for me to know more about Mao and the socialist China.

[Wenting Gao · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise and fast-paced tour d'horizon of Chinese history of the Mao era, it depicts this larger-than-life character in a rather conventionally agreed upon light (nothing wrong about it). For those who are fairly familiar with this leg of China's journey, the book may not be hugely enlightening and eye-opening. That said, it is still a well-articulated summary of those bizarre and tumultuous years, the impact of which has been deeply ingrained into the collective psyche of Chinese society and the significance of which won't be easily forgotten, whichever path the country shall take in the next decades.

[Abdullah Hussaini · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7

Untuk mengenali Mao dan sejarah moden China serba ringkas, rasanya buku ni elok sebagai pengenalan.

Bermula dengan kisah hidup waktu kecil, menganjak dewasa ia cenderung kepada liberal hinggalah bertemu dengan Komunisme yang mengubah banyak dirinya. Kita akan kagum dengan kebolehannya mengatur helah dan taktik memenangi perang dan kemudian terpana dengan muslihatnya melumpuhkan seteru atau kawan² sendiri yang dianggap seteru, kesilapan²nya dalam memberi keputusan dan tinggalannya yang memberikan dampak sehingga kini.

Terjemahan ke dalam bahasa Melayu akan terbit seminggu dua lagi.

[Liya Ma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Superbly well written and told chronologically which made it easy to follow. I’m uncomfortable with the humanization of Mao and I felt this book was basically just a telling of his exploits and all the “good” he did for China. There was a lot of emphasis on Japan’s evils and Mao’s brilliant rescue and it seems the horrors of the Cultural Revolution was barely touched. She does mention the famine 3x but doesn’t say much about the humiliations and decades of suffering of ALL Chinese people.

[John Hess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice, brief overview of Mao's life and legacy. Would recommend for those, like me, who know very little about 20th century China.

Warning RE: the audiobook. The guy they get to do it sounds like a clumsy local news anchor and mispronounces everything and just generally makes you feel silly for listening.

[Zack Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filled in a lot of gaps in my understanding of the century of humiliation, the CCP and the GMD, the Long March, Mao's rise to power and the post-Mao Chinese market society. Mao's story is a Greek tragedy. So much "what could have been" in here and a lot of good intentions gone wrong. Highly recommend as an introduction to the last century and a half of Chinese history.

[Differengenera · Rating 4 out of 5]

with the big proviso that I've read almost nothing else on the period, I don't know if, at this length and readability that you're going to do better than this for a general introduction. if you are of the view that China since 1943 has all been one long uninterrupted victory for the oppressed still going to this day (but not in the way adam tooze thinks), don't waste your time

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very-well written narrative introduction to "Mao the leader" rather than "Mao the political theorist" (or "Mao the criminal" if you are so inclined). You can certainly ask for more, but as a jumping-off point, it's wonderful little book.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rebecca Karl has written a masterful and thoroughly readable account of the life of Mao Zedong and of the modern China Mao helped shape. Just under 200 pages, Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History is neither a deep biography, a philosophical assessment of Marxism, nor a new history of modern China. And yet, the book interweaves biography, overview of political debate and texts, and historical context in a engrossing and thought-provoking way.

I found myself reflecting on both long ago academic study I did as well as dim memories of the political relection here in the United States of the mid-sixties Cultural Revolution and events which followed. I zipped through most of the book almost like consuming a TV mini-series history, with Karl's vivid and pithy descriptions just flowing along. I then saved the last part a week or two to let the impact of her reconstruction of events and effects sink in.

The last book I read that engaged strongly about the Cultural Revolution was, of all things, Liu Cixin's also engrossing three-volume science fiction epic, starting with The Three Body Problem. Cixin's use of the Cultural Revolution as foundation anchor point also has stayed with me, though in more of a depressing, cloudy, just out-of-self-reflective-reach sort of way.

Karl's book is just the opposite. It invites open-eyed reflection, consideration of the epic rise of modern China as global capitalist rival to the US against the decades of turmoil that produced it. As she says in the preface, "the book takes Mao Zedong and his era--in Chinese and global terms--quite seriously. It takes socialism in China and the world as integral to the history of the twentieth century."

Whatever one makes of that history, it is hard not to agree with Karl's observation, "Recalling Mao's challenge is to recall a time when many things seemed possible; it is to remember possiblity against the pressure to concede to the world as it now appears." Thinking of many things today, from Black Lives Matter to young people stirred against gun violence, it seems timely to recall that era in Chinese history.

The 200 pages will just fly by. As those historical moments continue to fade--next year will mark 50 years since the Cultural Revolution--pause and take a look.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise

[Héctor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me lo he leído casi del tirón. Una introducción bastante ágil y "objetiva" a la historia de China en el siglo XX a través de la vida de Mao Zedong.

[Nathan Fisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Serviceable, I guess, but really pushing the limits of concision here, IMO.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for school.

[Alex Nuttle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebecca Karl's biography of Mao is excellent. Typical biographies of Mao tend to solely focus on the negative aspects of Mao rather than treating him as a person. Karl's biography is still rightfully critical of Mao and his policies, but she does not engage in sensationalizing what happened, rather letting events speak for themselves. As far as I can tell, Karl is more interested in Maoism as a movement that has had incredible influence on revolutionary movements across the globe and what the left can still pull out of Maoism. This exploration of Mao's life, how it was shaped by China in the 20th century, and how that shaped Maoism does a good job explaining all of this in an accessible way (especially for a history book written by an academic), while being roughly 200 pages (not counting endnotes).

[John Weathers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice introduction to Mao Zedong's life and the history of the Chinese Revolution covering Mao's entire life as well as China up to 2008. It covers a lot of ground in a relatively short number of pages and does so in a highly readable fashion while providing enough detail and context that one doesn't feel lost. While there are some places where I desired a little more depth that is to be expected from a book that describes itself as a "Concise History". I think the author provides a rather balanced account of her subject and most (but not all) of the historical evaluations are identifiable as such and separable from facts allowing curious readers to delve deeper with other sources and form their own evaluations.

[KCML]

This book is a relatively short one, although that is not necessarily a bad thing. Rebecca Karl takes a balanced and fair look at Mao Zedong, the Cultural Revolution and other aspects of Modern China. I do think she missed some points, that is the relationship between China and Albania, which does deserve mention since it was the latter who initiated the proposal for Maoist China's entrance into the United Nations. The book makes a great point that after the Great Leap Forward Mao Zedong was outside of the inner workings of the Communist Party, that the Cultural Revolution was not an attempt for Mao to "win back" power as much as it was to defeat real rightists in power.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice, concise history written in a style that reads a little bit like a film documentary -- easily digestible and with great forward momentum. I would have preferred a little bit more focus on Mao's Marxist philosophy, but there are some good nuggets to be found, especially in the details of how Mao Zedong Thought shaped historical events in China.

The narrative is not hostile and anti-Mao, which is refreshing, and the author does a service in the book's conclusion when she juxtaposes Mao-era Mass Line politics with China's current system in a thought-provoking way.

[Tajah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concisely tells you about the Mao years (and a bit before that with the sino-japanese war) in a very accessible way.
Great for revision as it can be read in a couple sittings if you have the patience for it.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want contemporary history, this does a good job.

[Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a clear, easy to read and takes on a global view of the unfolding that took place prior and in the course of Mao's life.