China After Mao
The Rise of a Superpower
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:17th Aug '23
Should be back in stock very soon
From the Samuel Johnson Prize-winning author Frank Dikötter, 'the historian of China' (Spectator), a timely and compelling account of China in the wake of Chairman Mao
'A revolutionary book' Sunday Times'A pulsating account' Peter Frankopan*A SPECTATOR AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR* How did the People’s Republic of China transform from a backwater economy in the 1970s into the world superpower of today? Drawing on hundreds of previously unseen archival documents, award-winning historian Frank Dikötter recasts our understanding of an era that both the regime and foreign admirers alike celebrate as an economic miracle. In a fascinating tale spanning five decades, he examines the country’s economic transformation alongside the regime’s determined suppression of dissent, its increasing hostility towards the West and its development into a thoroughly entrenched dictatorship led by Xi Jinping – one equipped with a sprawling security apparatus and the most sophisticated surveillance system in the world. ‘Essential reading for anyone who wants to know what has shaped today’s China and what the Chinese Communist Party’s choices mean for the rest of the world’ New Statesman‘A blow-by-blow account of the uneven, reactive and sometimes chaotic course of economic policies . . . An important corrective’ Financial Times‘Dikötter has been mining Chinese primary sources for decades . . . A clear-eyed and detailed account’ Observer
PRAISE FOR THE PEOPLE'S TRILOGY: Together, these three books constitute a major contribution to scholarship on modern China, one that is unequalled, certainly in the English language * Literary Review *
Harrowing and brilliant ... This is the book that changes your life -- Ben Macintyre * The Times *
Dikötter's achievement in this book is remarkable * Sunday Times *
A brilliant and powerful account ...This excellent book is horrific but essential reading for all who want to understand the darkness that lies at the heart of one of the world's most important revolutions * Guardian *
Powerful ... Bold and startling ... Dikötter must be admired for the manner in which he puts a human scale on the enormous barbarities of the communist takeover of China. We cannot begin to understand modern China without being aware of the blood-drenched tale Dikötter so ably relates -- Kwasi Kwarteng * Evening Standard *
A mesmerizing account of the communist revolution in China, and the subsequent transformation of hundreds of millions of lives through violence, coercion and broken promises. The Chinese themselves suppress this history, but for anyone who wants to understand the current Beijing regime, this is essential background reading -- Anne Applebaum
Dikötter performs here a tremendous service by making legible the hugely controversial origins of the present Chinese political order -- Tim Snyder
A remarkable work of archival research. Dikötter rarely, if ever, allows the story of central government to dominate by merely reporting a top-down directive. Instead, he tracks down the grassroots impact of Communist policies ... In so doing, he uncovers astonishing stories of party-led inhumanity and also popular resistance ... Dikötter sustains a strong human dimension to the story by skillfully weaving individual voices through the length of the book * Financial Times *
Startling ... Dikötter's work has aimed to demolish almost every claim to truth or virtue the Chinese Communist party ever made. He combines a vivid eye for detail with a historian's diligence in the archives. Powerful ... Dikötter is unsparing in his account of the effects of the communist rule * Observer *
Magnificent ... This brilliant book leaves no doubt that Mao almost ruined China and left a legacy of paranoia that still grips its modern dictatorship under the latest autocrat, Xi Jinping -- Michael Sheridan * Sunday Times *
ISBN: 9781526634306
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
416 pages