Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

this is a passionate book borne of horrendous personal experience; what it is not is a valuable history of mao and his era. while deservedly exoriating mao for everything from his ruthlessness to his womanizing, it provides no insights into how mao triumphed. rather than repeat reviews that have been written, it is strongly suggested that interested readers turn to andrew nathan's devastating and meticulous review in the london review of books. this is, in the end, a book to confirm manichean views of china, not an effort at serious historical inquiry.