Jung Chang's "Wild Swans" was an extraordinary bestseller throughout the world, selling more than 10 million copies and reaching a wider readership than any other book about China. Now she and her husband Jon Halliday have written a groundbreaking biography of Mao Tse-tung. Based on a decade of research, and on interviews with many of Mao's close circle in China who have never talked before - and with virtually everyone outside China who had significant dealings with him - this is the most authoritative life of Mao ever written. It is full of startling revelations, exploding the myth of the Long March, and showing a completely unknown Mao: he was not driven by idealism or ideology; his intimate and intricate relationship with Stalin went back to the 1920s, ultimately bringing him to power; he welcomed Japanese occupation of much of China; and he schemed, poisoned and blackmailed to get his way. After Mao conquered China in 1949, his secret goal was to dominate the world. In chasing this dream he caused the deaths of 38 million people in the greatest famine in history. Combining meticulous history with the story-telling style of "Wild Swans", this biography makes immediate Mao's roller-coaster life, as he intrigued and fought every step of the way to force through his unpopular decisions. The reader enters the shadowy chambers of Mao's court, and eavesdrops on the drama in its hidden recesses. Mao's character and the enormity of his behaviour towards his wives, mistresses and children are unveiled for the first time. This is an entirely fresh look at Mao in both content and approach. It will astonish historians and the general reader alike.

About the Author

Jung Chang is the author of the award-winning Wild Swans. Jon Halliday is a former Senior Visiting Research Fellow at King's College, University of London. He has written or edited eight previous books.

Prizes

The most authoritative life of Mao ever written, by the bestselling author of Wild Swans and her husband

Reviews

Jung moves from the personal-her huge best seller, Wild Swans, inter-twined her story of life in Communist China with the stories of her mother and grandmother-to the political. Halliday chimes in with his University of London credentials. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Jung Chang, author of the award-winning Wild Swans, grew up during the Cultural Revolution; Halliday is a research fellow at King's College, University of London. They join forces in this sweeping but flawed biography, which aims to uncover Mao's further cruelties (beyond those commonly known) by debunking claims made by the Communist Party in his service. For example, the authors argue that, far from Mao's humble peasant background shaping his sympathies for the downtrodden, he actually ruthlessly exploited the peasants' resources when he was based in regions such as Yenan, and cared about peasants only when it suited his political agenda. And far from having founded the Chinese Communist Party, the authors argue, Mao was merely at the right place at the right time. Importantly, the book argues that in most instances Mao was able to hold on to power thanks to his adroitness in appealing to and manipulating powerful allies and foes, such as Stalin and later Nixon; furthermore, almost every aspect of his career was motivated by a preternatural thirst for personal power, rather than political vision. Some of the book's claims rely on interviews and on primary material (such as the anguished letters Mao's second wife wrote after he abandoned her), though the book's use of sources is sometimes incompletely documented and at times heavy-handed (for example, using a school essay the young Mao wrote to show his lifelong ruthlessness). Illus., maps. (Oct. 21) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

" An atom bomb of a book. " - Time
" A magisterial work. . . . This magnificent biography methodically demolishes every pillar of Mao ' s claim to sympathy or legitimacy. . . . A triumph. " - The New York Times Book Review
" Chilling. . . . Impressive. . . . An extremely compelling portrait of Mao that will still shock many. " - The Christian Science Monitor
" An important book in ways not envisaged. . . . A work of unanswerable authority. " - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
" The most complete and assiduously researched biography of its subject yet published. . . . No earlier work comes close to matching the density of detail here. . . . The authors have performed brilliant historical detective work. " - The Atlantic Monthly
& quot; Chang and Halliday cast new and revealing light on nearly every episode in Mao's tumultuous life ... a stupendous work and one hopes that it will be brought before the Chinese people, who still claim to venerate the man and who have yet to come to terms with their own history ... & quot; -Michael Yahuda, The Guardian
& quot; Jung Chang and Jon Halliday have not, in the whole of their narrative, a good word to say about Mao. In a normal biography, such an unequivocal denunciation would be both suspect and tedious. But the clear scholarship, and careful notes, of TheUnknown Story provoke another reaction. Mao Tse-Tung's evil, undoubted and well-documented, is unequalled throughout modern history.& quot; -Roy Hattersley, The Observer
& quot; Ever since the spectacular success of Chang's Wild Swans we have waited impatiently for her to complete with her husband this monumental study of China's most notorious modern leader. The expectation has been that she would rewrite modern Chinese history. The wait has been worthwhile and the expectation justified. This is a bombshell of a book.& quot; -Chris Patten, last British governor of Hong Kong, in The Times
& quot; A triumph. It is a mesmerising portrait of tyranny, degeneracy, mass murder and promiscuity, a barrage of revisionist bombshells, and a superb piece of research.& quot;
-Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Sunday Times
& quot; Jung Chang and Jon Halliday enter a savage indictment drawing on a host of sources, including important Soviet ones, to blow away the miasma of deceit and ignorance which still shrouds Mao's life from many Western eyes...Jung Chang delivers a cry of anguish on behalf of all of those in her native land who, to this day, are still not free to speak of these things.& quot; -Max Hastings, The Sunday Telegraph
& quot; Demonstrating the same pitilessness that they judge to be Mao's most formidable weapon, they unstitch the myths that sustained him in power for forty years and that continue to underpin China's regime ... I suspect that when China comes to terms with its pastthis book will have played a role.& quot; -Nicolas Shakespeare, Telegraph
& quot; The detail and documentation are awesome. The story that they tell, mesmerising in its horror, is the most powerful, compelling, and revealing political biography of modern times. Few books are destined to change history, but this one will.& quot; -George Walden, Daily Mail
& quot; decisive biography ... they have investigated every aspect of his personal life and career, peeling back the layers of lies, myths, and what we used to think of as facts ... what Chang and Halliday have done is immense and surpasses, as a biography, everything that has gone before.& quot; -Jonathan Mirsky, The Independent, Saturday
& quot; written with the same deft hand that enlivened Ms. Chang's 1991 memoir, 'Wild Swans' ... & quot; - The Economist