Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic, Third Edition
by Maurice Meisner
List Price:
Our Price: $11.49
You Save: $8.46 (42%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.11 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Maurice MeisnerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1999-04-01
ISBN: 0684856352
Number of pages: 608
Publisher: Free Press
Book Reviews of Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic, Third Edition
Book Review: A left-wing popular history of modern China
Summary: 4 Stars
Maurice Meisner, one of the US' foremost Sinologists, did an excellent job writing a popular history of the People's Republic in "Mao's China and After". Starting with the fall of the Empire and the May Fourth movement as well as New Culture, Meisner then skips to the point where the Chinese Communists have won the Civil War. He discusses the Maoist, Liuist, Dengist etc. periods in Chinese history in depth, taking a very large-scale view concentrating in particular on economic and social history, with some commentary on the position of intellectuals thrown in (in particular with the Hundred Flowers movement and the Cultural Revolution).
Meisner gives a solid left-wing perspective on all the relevant issues, focusing in particular on the successes and failures both of Mao's view of socialism, which, as Meisner points out, was itself on the left wing of the Communist Party of China. As some reviewers have noted, at times this does a disservice to his eagle's view of things, as a lot of social history in which Mao plays only a tangential role is ignored: there is no part on the position of women and changes in this, no description of the Civil War itself at all, practically nothing on the war against Japan, and even the Great Leap Forward gets only a summary description. On the other hand, this allows him to focus very strongly on the relation between economic policy and economic structures on the one hand, and the roles and views of the leaders of the Party on the other hand, surely an essential but often missing element of any serious political history.
The book is eminently readable and requires absolutely zero prior knowledge of modern China, and at the same time, after finishing it, a reader will have at least a moderate level of knowledge on modern Chinese political history. This is quite an accomplishment, made possible by Meisner's talent to make complicated political entanglements seem straightforward and obvious, and his constant eye on the economic side of things. There are a lot of things that one could criticize this book on, but since it is meant as a popular introduction, it should be judged on those criteria, and there it succeeds quite well.
History Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in International socialism, part 2
Maoism in the Developed Worldby Robert J. Alexander
Praeger Publishers; Published: 2001-07-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $102.95
International Maoism in the Developing Worldby Robert J. Alexander
Praeger Publishers; Published: 1999-11-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $114.00
Price in other shops:
Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic, Third Editionby Maurice Meisner
Free Press; Published: 1999-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.96
Price in other shops:
Bush Versus Ch??vez: Washingtons War on Venezuelaby Eva Golinger
Monthly Review Press; Published: 2007-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.84
Price in other shops:
Yankee Sandinistasby Ron Ridenour
Curbstone Press,U.S.; Published: 1987-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.95
The Death of Ben Linder: The Story of a North American in Sandinista Nicaraguaby Joan Kruckewitt
Seven Stories Press; Published: 2001-06-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
The Nicaragua Reader: Documents of a Revolution Under FireGrove Pr; Published: 1983-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $107.81
Sandinistas Speak: Speeches, Writings, and Interviews with Leaders of Nicaragua's Revolutionby Carlos Fonseca, Daniel Ortega, Tom?s Borge
Pathfinder Press (NY); Published: 1982-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.85
Price in other shops:
Salvador Allende Reader : Chile's Voice of Democracyby Salvador Allende, Jane Carolina Canning, Cockroft
Ocean Press; Published: 2000-06-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.83
Price in other shops:
The Cuban Revolution and Venezuelaby Germ?n S?nchez
Ocean Press; Published: 2006-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Son of the Revolutionby Liang Heng, Judith Shapiro
Vintage; Published: 1984-02-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops:
Mao's China and the Cold War (The New Cold War History)by Chen Jian
The University of North Carolina Press; Published: 2001-06-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.00
Price in other shops:
Mao Zedong: A Life (A Penguin Life)by Jonathan D. Spence
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2006-08-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.24
Price in other shops:
Governing China: From Revolution to Reform (Second Edition)by Kenneth Lieberthal
W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 2003-12-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $26.40
The Search for Modern China (Second Edition)by Jonathan D. Spence
W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 1999-01-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $33.99
China: A New History, Second Enlarged Editionby John King Fairbank, Merle Goldman
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; Published: 2006-04-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.25
Price in other shops:
Wild Swans : Three Daughters of Chinaby Jung Chang
Touchstone; Published: 2003-08-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.20
Price in other shops:
Fall of Imperial China (Transformation of Modern China Series)by Frederic Wakeman Jr.
Free Press; Published: 1977-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949by Lucien Bianco
Stanford University Press; Published: 1971-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
Chen Village under Mao and Deng, Expanded and Updated editionby Anita Chan, Richard Madsen, Jonathan Unger
University of California Press; Published: 1992-10-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.25
Price in other shops: