Dragon in Ambush

Carefully translating and analyzing Mao's first 20 published poems for their political expression, the late Ingalls (poet, scholar, editor, and translator) presents Mao's poetry as an extension of his political thought rather than simply a leisure activity. After all, within China, poems had a long history of playing a role as political gauges. Part 1 establishes the historical and literary background needed to understand Mao's poems and his desire to become China's next emperor. Part 2 provides a more detailed literary, ideological, and textural analysis of each poem through Ingalls's examination of the ideas and words that explain the 'paradox that [Mao] understands but which ... he does not expect all of his readers to perceive.' This is an exceptionally well-written text, with extensive analytical notes, a bibliography, and a glossary of characters used. Readers do not have to be familiar with Mao's poems, but to fully benefit from this work, readers must be familiar with Mao's other writings and the writings of his contemporaries, with Chinese literary tradition, and with Chinese history from ancient times through the 20th century. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. * CHOICE *
Dragon in Ambush is immensely detailed. . . .[The author's] emphasis is a much-needed corrective to the work of the many earlier translators and compilers, Chinese and foreign, who have been far too reverential toward Mao. Ingalls surpasses her predecessors in the detail and erudition of her work, and in the end conveys a sense of the inner Mao that is more credible than theirs. * The New York Review Of Books *
Ingalls provides a seminal translation of twenty of Mao’s poems, which will be of interest to many scholars across multiple fields. Her assertion that Mao intended to deliver a series of military and political messages for potential successors, which combine to endorse a strategy of ruthless psychological domination, represents a thought-provoking proposition, albeit one which may have been formed using subjective interpretations and a teleological approach. The work has considerable merit. * E-International Relations *
Jeremy Ingalls’s translations and analysis may be. . . .informative and educative to government policy makers and researchers, scholars, and students seeking to understand the impact of Mao Zedong on his country. It would also provide readers with the fundamentals in discovering why the People’s Republic of China in the twentieth-first century has advanced to the level of a colossal global power. * Asian Affairs *
Jeremy Ingalls’ translation and explication of Mao Zedong’s poems is an extraordinary work, so full of information that it seems bursting at its roughly 500-page seams. . . .Ingalls book is a rich source of information about Mao’s poetic work, and in some respects his personal and political philosophy. * Modern Chinese Literature and Culture *