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Title: Mao Zedong (Penguin Lives) by Jonathan D. Spence ISBN: 0-670-88669-6 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: November, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.19 (21 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Two Hours After Finishing This Book...
Comment: Jonathan Spence is as knowledgeable a writer and scholar of modern China as one can find. Like all bios in the Penguin Lives series this one of Mao is short and hits but the highlights of this history-changing leader's life. Spence presents the highlights of Mao's life: his rural background, the long struggle to find a place and a way to oppose the old regime, the many wives and children, the incredibly difficult opposition to the Japanese and the Nationalists during WWII and the long, rather disastrous reign as China's leader.
But we are given--of necessity--just a taste of a life. Spence is a biographer and a historian, not a poet. And perhaps a poet is needed here. For me, this was a good, solid introduction to Mao. What I need is a fuller, more fleshed out biography wherein the subject comes to life, where his life feels real and one can really get inside his head to try and understand what made this marvelous, monstrous man tick. But, this is a good first taste.
Rating: 4
Summary: Brief story of Mao
Comment: If you want a detailed account of Mao's life, then you should find a big fat book on him. This is a short book that is in no way a complete biography, but serves as a great introduction to Mao and the state of China throughout his life. Given the space of 178 pages, Jonathan Spence selectively designs a narrative that emphasizes the influences that shaped Mao's early life. Less insightful than informative, Spence's book is one you can learn from if communism in China arouses your curiousity. And you can read it in a day.
Rating: 2
Summary: Lacked focus on importance
Comment: If you going to attempt a 180 page biography of someone of this stature, one must sift thru and present only the most relevent and important details. This did not happen. A decent book, but lacked details on some very important areas, while giving too much time to unrealted topics. Example: Mao becomes the head of a small, isolated band of communist guerilla fighters. Very well, now how does he transform from that, into the head of state for a billion people? the book doesnt say. In this biogarphy, Mao goes from that cave-living nobody into meeting Stalin and ruling China in about 2 paragraphs. From cave-dweller to world leader in 6 sentences. We get more than 6 sentences about his last secretary's personal life.
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Title: Leonardo Da Vinci (Penguin Lives) by Sherwin B. Nuland ISBN: 0670893919 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: October, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Woodrow Wilson (Penguin Lives) by Louis Auchincloss ISBN: 0670889040 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 20 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Winston Churchill: A Penguin Life (Penguin Lives) by John Keegan ISBN: 0670030791 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 10 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Saint Augustine (Penguin Lives) by Garry Wills ISBN: 0670886106 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: James Joyce: A Penguin Life (Penguin Lives) by Edna O'Brien ISBN: 0670882305 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: November, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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