Everyone who came in close contact with Mao was taken aback at the anarchy of his personal ways. He ate idiosyncratically. He became increasingly sexually promiscuous as he aged. He would stay up much of the night, sleep during much of the day, and at times he would postpone sleep, remaining awake for thirty-six hours or more, until tension and exhaustion overcame him. Yet many people who met Mao came away deeply impressed by his intellectual reach, originality, style of power-within-simplicity, kindness toward low-level staff members, and the aura of respect that surrounded him at the top of Chinese politics. It would seem difficult to reconcile these two disparate views of Mao. But in a fundamental sense there was no brick wall between Mao the person and Mao the leader. This biography attempts to provide a comprehensive account of this powerful and polarizing historical figure.
Indispensable to understanding the inseparable relationship between Mao and events in China over the last century. What's more, it's fascinating reading." - Chicago Sun-Times "Journalistic yet authoritative . . . lively and readable . . . insightful in . . . unraveling Mao's contradictions." – The New York Times "An illuminating full-length portrait . . ." – Los Angeles Times "Ross Terrill, probably this country's preeminent writer on China, has . . . given us a whole man to replace the two-dimensional representation . . ." - Boston Globe Everyone who came into close contact with Chinese dictator Mao Zedong was surprised at his personal habits. He would stay up much of the night, sleep during the day, and would sometimes remain awake for thirty-six hours or more, until he finally collapsed. Yet many who met Mao were impressed by his intellectual reach, originality, and kindness. It would seem difficult to reconcile these two views of Mao. But there was no divide between Mao the man and Mao the leader. This insightful biography by China scholar Ross Terrill provides a comprehensive account of this powerful and polarizing figure.
This is the most complete and authoritative account of the childhood and tumultuous life of Jiang Qing, from her early years as an aspiring actress to her marriage and partnership with Mao Zedong, the controversial years of power after Mao's death, her final years of disgrace and imprisonment, and her suicide in 1991.
A peculiar facet of China’s history is that its greatest villains have often been women. The evil Empress Wu lives on in legend, as does another ogre: the “White-Boned Demon,” Madame Mao Zedong. On January 25, 1981, Jiang Qing, widow of Mao, was sentenced to death. Two years later, that sentence was changed to life imprisonment. The daughter of a concubine, Jiang Qing grew up as an outcast in the homes of wealthy men. In her early teens, she joined a troupe of roving actors. By the age of nineteen, she had exhausted two marriages. Reaching Shanghai, she won theatrical success as Ibsen’s Nora - a role that gave expression to both her rage and ambition. At twenty-four, Jiang Qing abandoned stardom at the height of a movie career to join Mao Zedong after his Long March across China. She married the great revolutionary, after his current wife was ousted, and rose to be the inspiring and vengeful leader of the Cultural Revolution. As Mao sank toward death, Jiang Qing made her bid to be empress. She failed, and soldiers came to arrest her in the middle of the night. Her downfall reverberated across the world. Ross Terrill, author of The Life of Mao, one of the West’s most eminent Sinologists, is uniquely qualified to unearth Madame Mao’s hidden story. Terrill went to China and Taiwan to track down documents and living sources and discovered secret papers and photos that had escaped Madame Mao’s confiscation. In the author’s words, “This book tells Jiang Qing’s story through the eloquent, unofficial voices of China: oral histories, eyewitness accounts from the grassroots, testimony of those Chinese who watched, knew, hated, or loved Jiang Qing. . . .” The result is a portrait of a woman, vivid, flawed, and human, who fought her way to a place in history, as well as a riveting view of one of the most momentous revolutions of all time.
Some observers expect China to become an economic superpower. Others expect it to fragment into pieces. Is China nationalistic and on the march, or is it a stumbling Communist dinosaur? Is it already a billion-citizen member of the global village? Is it, as the Clinton administration claimed, a "strategic partner" of the U.S.? Ross Terrill addresses the question upon which all these others depend: Is the People's Republic of China, whose polity is a hybrid of Chinese tradition and Western Marxism, willing to become a modern nation or does it insist on remaining an empire? Since the collapse of three thousand years of Confucian monarchy in 1911, China has neither established a successful political system nor adjusted to being a nation state. Today it stands as the most contradictory of major powers, hovering between an unsustainable tradition and a yet-to-be-born political form that would support its new society and economy. Hanging in the balance are the prospect for freedom within China (for both Chinese and non-Chinese citizens of the People's Republic), the future of America's relations with China, and the security of China's neighbors. Drawing upon Terrill's long experience studying China as well as upon new research, this enlightening and rigorous book will be a must-read for everyone who has a stake in the future of the global world order.
Chinese power is evaluated in light of its turbulent modern history in this insightful analysis of an often enigmatic culture and political system. 30,000 first printing.
In Australian Bush to TiananmenSquare Ross Terrillapplies his personal lens to China’s historic rise and turn from Moscow to the West. This book portrays Terrill’s correspondence with Zhou Enlai, Henry Kissinger, Guo Moruo, Chinese farmers, President Bush, students, Daoist monks, and dozens more. Chinese voices light up every paragraph as Terrill links turbulent events to his own exploration of China’s cities and villages.
Economic historian, democratic socialist, educator, and British labor party activist, R. H. Tawney touched many worlds. His life, too, spanned great distance and change. When he was born in Calcutta in 1880, Gladstone, Tennyson, and Queen Victoria were flourishing and the British Empire was approaching its height. By the time of his death in 1962, the Empire had shrunk to a few tourist islands, and socialism, once so shocking, was now commonplace. Ross Terrill, in this absorbing first study of Tawney's thought, view his subject within three related contexts. The first is Tawney, the man. Terrill makes skillful use of unpublished material--the early diary, speech and lecture notes, letters, interviews with friends and associates--to tell the story of Tawney's life in relation to his times. Second is social democracy. Tawney was one of its most influential philosophers and prophets, and this book argues for the continuing validity of his socialism as a path between capitalism and communism. Third is British politics. From Edwardian liberal "consensus" to mid-century collectivist "consensus," Tawney's long career, often at odds with prevailing orthodoxies, offers a window on British political culture. Four key ideas are found in Tawney's political thought: equality and the dispersion of power--the "shape of socialism"; function and citizenship--the "life of socialism." These ideas, and indeed the life of the man himself, Terrill believes, are summed up in socialism as fellowship. "As long as men are men," Tawney said, "a poor society cannot be too poor to find a right order of life, nor a rich society too rich to have need to seek it." This book is a blend of biography, history, and the study of political ideas. It provides a striking portrait of a remarkable man and a panorama of changing ideas and situations in the society where he tried to realize his socialist vision. It offers many glimpses of Tawney's associates, among them Beveridge, the Webbs, Laski, A. P. Wadsworth, Temple, Margaret Cole, and Leonard Woolf; and surprising snippets, like the fact that Tawney used the phrase "private affluence and public squalor" in 1919.
Recapping the dramatic Whitlam-Nixon openings to China of the 1970s, Ross Terrill's new study finds fascinating themes for China policy today. Our Asia-Pacific region prospers, but the seas off China are not tranquil. American policies protect Australia, but they worry some Australians. Whitlam and Nixon cancelled decades of war in the Asia-Pacific, ushering in decades of astonishing economic growth for Australia, China and others. Can it last? Will the Chinese, who have much to lose from more war, accept give and take with Washington and Tokyo, or will the Middle Kingdom demand the middle position, squeezing its fourteen contiguous neighbours? With his dual perspective as both Australian and American citizen, Terrill examines the choices between idealism and realism, economic interests and security interests, and the benefits and risks of alliances. Looking forward, the paper assesses American staying power and the outlook for Beijing's unprecedented mix of Leninism with consumerism, Australia's future as a trading power, and Canberra's ability to locate China within a wider Indo-Pacific vision that includes Indonesia, Japan, and India. Within six days in 1971, the Asia-Pacific changed as Zhou Enlai bargained with Whitlam and Nixon. Today six days of disaster on the Korean Peninsula could change our region again. But the essay hopes Washington, Beijing, and Canberra, interdependent as never before, may achieve further peace and prosperity for the Asia-Pacific. Between the poles of China and the US seeing each other as a 'threat, ' on one hand, and setting up a 'G2', this report foresees a peaceful, un-orchestrated China-US competition offering breathing room for Asia's further progress.
Everyone who came in close contact with Mao was taken aback at the anarchy of his personal ways. He ate idiosyncratically. He became increasingly sexually promiscuous as he aged. He would stay up much of the night, sleep during much of the day, and at times he would postpone sleep, remaining awake for thirty-six hours or more, until tension and exhaustion overcame him. Yet many people who met Mao came away deeply impressed by his intellectual reach, originality, style of power-within-simplicity, kindness toward low-level staff members, and the aura of respect that surrounded him at the top of Chinese politics. It would seem difficult to reconcile these two disparate views of Mao. But in a fundamental sense there was no brick wall between Mao the person and Mao the leader. This biography attempts to provide a comprehensive account of this powerful and polarizing historical figure.
In this fully revised and updated edition of this highly successful title, ROSS TERRILL offers a vibrant and fascinating portrait of Australia today. The Australians garnered glowing reviews both in Australia and overseas when it was first published in 1987. It is a lively, personal, accessible and anecdote-filled snapshot of the Australian people at the start of the 21st century: the nation, economy, society, culture and values; the cities, the outback; and the evolution of our national identity. Frank interviews with leading contemporary Australians such as Prime Minister John Howard, former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett and NSW Premier Bob Carr add unique and authoritative insights into Australia past and present. As well as being a must-have for foreign visitors in 2000, it will appeal to readers of The Fatal Shore, Tom Keneally's The Great Shame, and, because it will also deal with major themes and ideas, buyers of Amongst the Barbarians by Paul Sheehan. International praise for the first edition: 'Perceptive and readable' - The Bulletin 'A candid and provocative book' - Sydney Morning Herald 'One of the best portraits of Australians in recent years' - Chicago Tribune 'Part travel book, part history and part autobiography ... full of interest' - Sunday Telegraph (London)
Providing seasoned insight into China's continuing economic, cultural, and political growth, Terrill brilliantly illuminates the enigma of modern-day China. Tightly paced, well researched, and grippingly told.--Library Journal. Photographs.
This paper looks at the rise of new powers in comparative terms. The People's Republic of China's rapid economic growth rates are accompanied by military advances, a heightened quest for markets and resources, diplomatic assertiveness and increased national pride. China's role is now of global importance.
This is the most complete and authoritative account of the childhood and tumultuous life of Jiang Qing, from her early years as an aspiring actress to her marriage and partnership with Mao Zedong, the controversial years of power after Mao's death, her final years of disgrace and imprisonment, and her suicide in 1991.
Some observers expect China to become an economic superpower. Others expect it to fragment into pieces. Is China nationalistic and on the march, or is it a stumbling Communist dinosaur? Is it already a billion-citizen member of the global village? Is it, as the Clinton administration claimed, a "strategic partner" of the U.S.? Ross Terrill addresses the question upon which all these others depend: Is the People's Republic of China, whose polity is a hybrid of Chinese tradition and Western Marxism, willing to become a modern nation or does it insist on remaining an empire? Since the collapse of three thousand years of Confucian monarchy in 1911, China has neither established a successful political system nor adjusted to being a nation state. Today it stands as the most contradictory of major powers, hovering between an unsustainable tradition and a yet-to-be-born political form that would support its new society and economy. Hanging in the balance are the prospect for freedom within China (for both Chinese and non-Chinese citizens of the People's Republic), the future of America's relations with China, and the security of China's neighbors. Drawing upon Terrill's long experience studying China as well as upon new research, this enlightening and rigorous book will be a must-read for everyone who has a stake in the future of the global world order.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.