Delia Davin: 2 books

As a giant of 20th century history, Mao Zedong played many roles: peasant revolutionary, patriotic leader against the Japanese occupation, Marxist theoretician, modernizer, and visionary despot. This Very Short Introduction chronicles Mao's journey from peasant child to ruler of the most populous...

Mao Zedong—first chairman of the People’s Republic of China, one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party, and the architect of the Cultural Revolution—was active in Chinese politics for most of his 82 years, and became one of the most important revolutionary figures in the 20th century....