‘Excellent… a powerful account of a truly extraordinary period in recent Chinese history, enlivened by a wealth of vignettes and anecdotes’ PHILIP SHORT, author of Mao: A LifeMao launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966 to purge his critics and blood a new generation of fighters. A decade later, almost two million people were dead and China’s heritage had largely been obliterated.

From mass manias to spectacular falls from grace, Linda Jaivin's account does not just tell Mao’s story, but those of countless individuals. Brief yet teeming with unforgettable characters and vivid detail, it is the perfect introduction to one of the century’s most iconic – and consequential – events.‘A beautifully concise account, conveying in a hundred pages what most would struggle to achieve in a thousand’
KERRY BROWN, author of Xi