Book

Dikötter, Frank, author.

The tragedy of liberation : a history of the Chinese revolution, 1945-57 / Frank Dikötter.

London : Bloomsbury, 2017.

©2013

xxi, 376 pages, 18 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white) ; 20 cm.

In 1949 Mao Zedong hoisted the red flag over Beijing's Forbidden City. Instead of liberating the country, the communists destroyed the old order and replaced it with a repressive system that would dominate every aspect of Chinese life. In an epic of revolution and violence which draws on newly opened party archives, interviews and memoirs, Frank Dikotter interweaves the stories of millions of ordinary people with the brutal politics of Mao's court. A gripping account of how people from all walks of life were caught up in a tragedy that sent at least five million civilians to their deaths.

Mao, Zedong, 1893-1976 -- Influence.

Communism -- China.

Political violence -- China -- History -- 20th century.

Social change -- China -- History -- 20th century.

China -- Politics and government -- 1949-1976.

China -- Politics and government -- 1945-1949.

Originally published: 2013.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Conquest (1945-49). Siege -- War -- Takeover (1949-52). Liberation -- The hurricane -- The great terror -- The bamboo curtain -- War again -- Regimentation (1952-56). The purge -- Thought reform -- The road to serfdom -- High tide -- The Gulag -- Backlash (1956-57). Behind the scenes -- Poisonous weeds.

951.055

9781408886359

1408886359

803354

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