Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

What a book! This is a masterclass of the Chinese cultural revolution - it took me a
Long time to read because it’s complex history of which I’m not too familiar. I have read several novels in 2021 that focused on the Chinese cultural revolution and how the generational trauma of it lasted to the present day in families. I’ve been so curious since reading these novels and this book scratched my itch. Incredible book.

A particularly hard read and took me a long while to complete because it is a vast amount of information to digest, and even more difficult to contemplate the brutality of the revolution as well as it's long term consequences.

I really tried to finish this book; it's an important story and a bravely written one. But the author presumes a familiarity with Chinese history in the 20th century I just don't possess (probably would if I had read his prior book!) and this will stay on the shelf as a reference for when I have enough background information to return to it. Highly valuable for those deeply engrossed in the history of China and the communist party.

I can't wait to use this book in my history classes! What an incredibly well-researched and engagingly written history book (rare to find a historian that can write as well as a novelist to engage his readers), Multiple perspectives on the cultural revolution allow the reader to get a fuller picture of a period in history that still drives China today.

It took 11 years for Yang Jisheng to complete his research on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and publish it in Hong Kong, and another 5 years for the book to reach English-speaking audience. Yet, the publication in English couldn't be more timely as Chinese political and economical influence rapidly spreads throughout the world. Knowing the past which brought China to the rank of a modern superpower allows us to understand undercover internal currents and foresee its future moves in international relations.

For a person who read a lot about Communism, and especially Comnunism of Soviet Russia, it is hard not to compare Stalin's 1930s purges with those in China during the Cultural Revolution. Both countries fully endorsed Marxism-Leninism and created totalitarian systems of the new kind with supreme leaders at the top; both violently suppressed opposition to the ruling regime. Even the official language had similarities; opponents were named counterrevolutionaries, traitors, and evildoers. While families of the enemies of the people in Russia were sentenced to long prison terms under the infamous article number 58, wives and children in China faced the same fate as their heads of a family from the hands of the enraged masses. Downfall of Mao's successors - Lin Biao, Liu Shaoqi - is similar to the proccesses over old Bolshevik cadres organized by Joseph Stalin. Both countries haven't declassified all archives of the era and there are materials still waiting for the meticulous scholars.

Yang Jisheng puts forward his own theory of Culturan Revolution which contradicts the official version held by modern Chinese historians. In his opinion, Cultural Revolution with its hundreds of victims wasn't a mass movement which ran out of control but rather an orchestrated redirection of people's discontent toward bureaucratic cliques. Ordinary people nurtured during 17 years of Communism were Mao's left hand and the system of officialdom were his right hand, and the struggle between them gave him opportunities to strengthen his leading positions. Year after year the unfolding of the internal struggle in the Chinese Communist party is desribed through and motivated by different political campaigns. All shifts in Mao's views as he struggled to preserve the balance are depicted in the text. Little details like emotional conversations and extracts from memoirs enliven the narrative constructed on the almost strict time scale. Every document's date/number, every significant building's address, every insignificant name/surname; all show the depth of the research. And that's what makes the text hard to read.

The research was done on the wide range of materials and was squeezed into one volume of more that 700 pages. As it is noted in Translator's Note, the text was cut in multiple places and three chapters had to be removed. These cuts are obvious in the chapters about pre-Cultural Revolution years where the language seems formal and focuses solely on politics. The whole book can be considered an excellent academic work for an experienced scholar/reader who has previous knowledge of the Chinese history. On the contrary, a mass reader can find the book dull and uneasy to comprehend when almost every paragraph begins with an introduction of a new name.

I'd recommend the book for the readers who want to deepen their knowledge about Cultural Revolution and my rating is 5 stars out of 5.

Detailed and comprehensive, this is essential reading for people interested in one of the biggest sociopath-political events in modern history. The book looks at the Revolution from multiple perspectives, giving keen insights into what happened and how it impacted different societal groups. The author clearly has a sense of wanting the information to be accessible and appealing, whether the reader is a history buff or not, and this is reflected in a clear, concise writing style.