The most authoritative life of mao ever written, by the bestselling author of wild swans and her husband. Jun 27, 2005 jung chang is best known in the west for wild swans, an intimate portrait of three generations of her own family. After over a decade of intensive research, her eagerly awaited followup is an exhaustive biography of chairman mao. Mao tsetung, the founding father of the peoples republic in china, was the greatest mass murderer of all time. Jung chang was born in yibin, sichuan province, china, in 1952. Based on a decade of research, and on interviews with many of maos close circle in china who have never talked before, and with virtually everyone outside china who had significant dealings with him, this is the most authoritative life of mao ever written. We then follow their lives and how they fight for communism, meet each other, get married and have children. With several internationally lauded books under her belt, the 65yearold author of wild swans and mao. The reader will be dazzled by his political maneuvering.
This is the sequal to jung changs first international best seller, wild swans three daughters of china. Jon halliday too much hate, too little understanding. Jung changs 20 release, now available as an e book, reflects on one of modern chinas most influential figures. Jung chang born march 26, 1952, chinese writer prabook. No single book on cixi is adequate by itself, at a minimum, if you are interested in her story you must read at least 4 books.
Stream and download audiobooks to your computer, tablet or mobile phone. Author jung chang in 2005 after the release of mao. They should take down mao s portrait from tiananmen square interview by kate kellaway the wild swans author on why she loves london, being banned in china and the astonishing life of. Wild swans author jung chang and her husband, historian jon halliday. The real story a belittling nod to the last giant work on mao, by jung. In this extraordinary biography chang, coauthor of mao. Based on a decade of research, and on interviews with many of mao s close circle in china who have never talked before, and with virtually everyone outside china who had significant dealings with him, this is the most authoritative life of mao ever written. The machiavellian politics is what makes the book so entertaining. The unknown story by jon halliday, jung chang books. The unknown story by jung chang and jon halliday jonathan cape. Jung chang, author of the acclaimed memoir wild swans and a coauthor of the contentious biography mao. Nov 11, 2016 history jung chang mao zedong hay levels. Maybe the most fascinating person in the book is jung changs father.
When reading books on the history of china or presumably anywhere you have to choose between books that are accessible, but might not be in keeping with up to. Jung chang, lynn pan e henry zhao editado por jessie lim e yan li, uma outra provincia. Nov 18, 20 new york, november 12, 20 historian jung chang proposes dowager empress cixi as a farsighted early reformer, citing her adoption of a free press and her decision to ban the practice of foot. Jun 27, 2011 i would recommend rebecca karls mao zedong and china in the twentiethcentury world. Mao chang, chinese scholar whose revision of and commentary on the great confucian classic the shijing classic of poetry became so famous that for the next 2,000 years this text was often referred to as the mao shi mao poetry. The author of wild swans and her historian husband, jon halliday, have torn away the many masks and falsehoods with which. Lambeth chinese community association, isbn 0952297302. The most authoritative life of mao ever written, by the bestselling author of wild swans, jung chang and her husband, historian jon halliday. The unknown story is a 2005 biography of chinese communist leader mao zedong 18931976 written by the wife and husband team of writer jung chang and historian jon halliday, who depict mao as being responsible for more deaths in peacetime than adolf hitler or joseph stalin. Books from jung chang the international bestselling author of wild swans.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading empress dowager cixi. Jung chang s new book gives the infamous concubine cixi her due. Her books have been translated into more than forty languages and sold more than fifteen million. Three daughters of china, mao and empress dowager cixi. The unknown story, a critical portrait of the chinese leader and his rise to power.
Now she and her husband jon halliday have written a groundbreaking biography of mao tsetung. Shocking, traumatizing, depressing, textbookish but brilliant. If chairman mao had been truly prescient, he would have located a little girl in sichuan province named jung chang and mie jiuzu killed her and wiped out all her relatives to the ninth degree. Jung chang and jon hallliday have excelled themselves with this captivating book about mao which is another book that i found difficult to put down. In the epilogue to her biography of mao tsetung, jung chang and her husband and cowriter jon halliday lament that, today, maos portrait and his corpse still. Jung changs wild swans was an extraordinary bestseller throughout the world, selling more than 10 million copies and reaching a wider readership than any other book about china. She ruled china for decades and brought a medieval empire into the modern age. A revealing interview with the world famous author.
Jung chang reveals the truth of another chapter in chinese history the empress cixis reputation as a cruel despot masks her contribution to chinas modernisation says the author mark brown. Jung chang is a chineseborn british writer now living in london, best known for her family autobiography wild swans, selling over 10 million copies worldwide but banned in the peoples republic of china. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read mao. The unknown story, has set out to reverse such negative verdicts. Bestselling author jung chang has earned a name for herself as a leading voice on chinese history. The victory goes to mao and his communist party and both changs parents are supporters of this. The author of wild swans and her historian husband, jon halliday, have. Despite possessing the two things virginia woolf famously declared necessary for a woman to write money and a room of her own jung chang was living under maos rule, a megalomaniac who owned thousands of books but prevented a billion chinese people from reading, she said.
Free shipping and pickup in store on eligible orders. In this groundbreaking biography, jung chang vividly describes how empress dowager cixi fought against monumental obstacles to change china. Jung chang is the bestselling author of wild swans, which the asian wall street journal called the most widely read book about china, and mao. His work is still generally considered the authoritative version. Sep 01, 2009 the most authoritative life of mao ever written, by the bestselling author of wild swans and her husband. Mao tsetung, who for decades held absolute power over the lives of onequarter of the worlds population, was responsible for well over 70 million deaths in peacetime, more than any other twentiethcentury leader. Based on a decade of research, and on interviews with many of maos close circle in china who have never talked before. In 1931 the japanese invaded manchuria in an effort to acquire more natural resources for their war machines, chiang and mao formed a truce in an effort to defeat the japanese the remaining communists formed the red army under mao zedongs leadership events leading up to the war. A new york times notable book empress dowager cixi 18351908 is the most important woman in chinese history. Chang tells the story that in fact has never been told, unmasking many distortions of the official record, and detailing the brutal ascent to power by one of historys most murderous dictators. The couple traveled all over the world to research the book, which took 12 years to write.
That book opened many eyes to the harsh realities of daily life in twentiethcentury china. The story is a key aspect of 20th century history, but is not well known in the west. The unknown story book by jung chang best price in. Chang and halliday document at length just how willing mao was to kill innocents for presumed crimes or mere expediency, how quick he was to concoct schemes against even such essential comrades as lin baio and chou enlaiand how willing the leaders of the world, among them richard nixon, were to bow to maos wishes. T he tiny woman with the waist length black hair looks perfectly at home in the scottish country mansion hotel, sipping her tea and admiring the darkening view of the river rushing past. A historia desconhecida londres, 2005, jonathan cape, isbn 0679422714.
The spectator this is a rich, dramatic story of rebellions, battles, plotting, rivalry, foreign invasion, punishment and forbidden love. The unknown story was called an atom bomb of a book. In conducting their research for the book over the course of a. The unknown story, written with her husband, the british historian jon halliday, was published in june 2005. The unknown story audiobook by jon halliday, jung chang.
The unknown story by jung chang and jon halliday 832pp, cape. She was a red guard briefly at the age of fourteen and then worked as a peasant, a barefoot doctor, a steelworker, and an electrician before becoming an englishlanguage student and, later, an assistant lecturer at sichuan university. The unknown story kindle edition by chang, jung, halliday, jon. Although the book, wild swans was banned in china, it established jung chang as the spokesperson of 20th century china and according to the asian wall street journal, this book was named the most read book about china. Empress dowager cixi kindle edition by chang, jung. The unknown story ebook written by jon halliday, jung chang. The unknown story, written with her husband, the irish historian jon halliday, was published in june 2005. Jung chang reveals the truth of another chapter in chinese history the empress cixi s reputation as a cruel despot masks her contribution to chinas modernisation says the author mark brown, arts. Jung chang reveals the truth of another chapter in chinese.
Oct 05, 2011 jung chang is the bestselling author of wild swans, which the asian wall street journal called the most widely read book about china, and mao. The unknown story, devoted to pointing out the flaws and shortcomings of the chang and halliday text. Sep 01, 2002 jung changs wild swans was an extraordinary bestseller throughout the world, selling more than 10 million copies and reaching a wider readership than any other book about china. Jung chang, lynn pan and henry zhao edited by jessie lim and li yan, another province. In the epilogue to her biography of mao tsetung, jung chang and her husband and cowriter jon halliday lament that, today, maos portrait and his corpse still dominate tiananmen square in the heart of the chinese capital. The unknown story by jung chang and jon halliday someday, an incredible life and times of mao will be written. Chineseborn british writer jung changs multigenerational memoir of china, wild swans, was the highestselling nonfiction paperback ever published, translated into 30 languages and selling. The academic response to it has not been especially kind, so much so that there is an entire book, was mao really a monster. The publication of jung changs second book wild swans made her a celebrity. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Mao tsetung, who for decades held absolute power over the lives of onequarter of the worlds population, was responsible for well over 70 million deaths in peacetime, more than any other twentieth. This is not that book, but when that book is written, it will draw heavily from this book.
This month she will be visiting hong kong to research her latest project, a book investigating the lives and legacies of revolutionary figure sun. In the spirit of the black book of communism 1999, this grand narrative aims to show that mao tsetung was among the greatest mass murderers in historyif not the greatest of them all. It was not an easy read and certainly a challenge to empathize with jung changs anger and open contempt for mao. The unknown story by jung chang and jon halliday random house hard cover rrp. It is a memoir of three generations of author jung changs family, principally told around the lives of her grandmother, mother and herself.
Jung changs empress dowager cixi the new york times. Read free excerpt of mao by jung chang, jon halliday. The unknown story by jon halliday, jung chang books on. Changs 2005 work, a biography of mao, was coauthored with her husband jon halliday and portrays mao in an extremely negative light. How they wrote their book on mao historians in the news. Though i could not find confirmation, it is by some accounts the highestselling memoir of all time with sales variously reported as being between 1015. Read free book excerpt from mao by jung chang, jon halliday, page 1 of 4. Changs unique style, using a personal description of the life of three generations of chinese women to highlight the many changes that the country went through, proved to be highly successful. At the age of sixteen, in a nationwide selection for royal consorts, cixi was chosen as one of the emperors numerous concubines. It is written in one of the easiest reading styles i have ever encountered. Bbc news programmes hardtalk jung chang remembering mao.