Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The truth is, this isn't exactly a quick read. I picked it up on a trip through London and have finally put it down a month later. However, if you're willing to deal with the density it is an utterly absorbing book. The reason for the density is obvious. There is no doubt, from the opening pages, that this is not so much a biography, as a case being carefully built to crack the myth of Mao. Early on, there is an extraordinary letter, written by Mao as a young man which serves as a keen insight to every decision made from thereon. It's a call to power, a chilling dismissal of individual rights and a note to himself that his 'morality' is different to that that the rest of mankind chooses to follow. What you have then, is a well written portrait of a man who didn't stand and act on behalf of the people, but who looked at the large picture, took calculated risks and saw how 'the people' could be manipulated to serve his own purposes. It's a book making a serious, strong case against one of the twentieth century's most intriguing figures. It succeeds on drawing out the man from beneath the smiling propoganda pictures. The truth is, the more flesh and blood Mao is revealed to be, the colder the reader's heart turns against him. A comprehensive (if heavy) achievement.