Mao's great famine : the history of China's most devastating catastrophe, 1958-1962 /
History of China's most devastating catastrophe, 1958-1962
Frank Dikötter.
- Paperback edition.
- xxiii, 420 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 20 cm
Originally published: 2010.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Two rivals -- The bidding starts -- Purging the ranks -- Bugle call -- Launching sputniks -- Let the shelling begin -- The people's communes -- Steel fever -- Warning signs -- Shopping spree -- Dizzy with success -- The end of truth -- Repression -- The Sino-Soviet rift -- Capitalist grain -- Finding a way out -- Agriculture -- Industry -- Trade -- Housing -- Nature -- Feasting through famine -- Wheeling and dealing -- On the sly -- 'Dear Chairman Mao' -- Robbers and rebels -- Exodus -- Children -- Women -- The elderly -- Accidents -- Disease -- The gulag -- Violence -- Sites of horror -- Cannibalism -- The final tally.
"Mao Zedong threw his country into a frenzy with the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to catch up with and overtake the Western world in less than fifteen years. It led to one of the greatest catastrophes the world has ever known. Dikotter's extraordinary research within Chinese archives brings together for the first time what happened in the corridors of power with the everyday experiences of ordinary people, giving voice to the dead and disenfranchised. This groundbreaking account definitively recasts the history of the People's Republic of China."--Publisher's website.
1408886367 9781408886366
Mao, Zedong, 1893-1976
Famines--China Food supply--China Mass casualties--Political aspects--History--China--20th century.
China--Economic policy--1949-1976 China--History--1949-1976 China--Social conditions--1949-1976 China--Politics and government--1949-1976