Collective History: Thirty Years of Social Text Book

I originally picked up Rebecca Karl’s book Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History knowing only the basics about Mao and Chinese history. Having visited China before, I eagerly opened this book expecting a well thought out introduction to twentieth century Chinese history. I was not disappointed.

Karl’s book presents a general chronology of the history of the People’s Republic of China through an emphasis on Mao’s actions and philosophy. In this way, this book could be considered semi-biographical. Karl aptly courses out this history, bringing the reader on the journey from Mao’s petty-bourgeois origins, to his numerous struggles against both the GMD and foreign imperialists, to his rise to power and victory of the civil war, to his implementation of both successful and horrendously disastrous socialist policies, to his demise and rise again, and finally to his death and the complete desecration of what Mao worked for by the CCP. Through this narrative, Karl does an excellent job at showcasing the multifaceted personality and political strategies of Mao: he synchronously deeply cared about the success of communism in China and the plights of the proletariat and peasants, yet he became increasingly power hungry and paranoid to the point that he jeopardized his own projects. Karl also showcases that eventually, with Mao’s death, the CCP completely switched course and suppressed socialist activities, effectively banning the people from participating in politics while heavily promoting capitalist initiatives under the false banner of being revolutionary - a trend that continues today.

Overall, Rebecca Karl succeeds with this book in creating a highly interesting and succinct introduction to twentieth century Chinese history. Her writing is very clear, even when she tackled some of the nuances of Mao Zedong Thought. Nevertheless, this being an introduction, the nature of the work is primarily surface level. I do wish that Karl provided more sources in her work so that the curious reader could explore this topic in more depth, though I imagine translation difficulties (or them not existing) truly hindered this. Regardless, this was a very enjoyable and educational read and I definitely recommend it.