New Bio Offers Sinister View of Chairman Mao

A new book paints Mao as a monster on par with Hitler and Stalin and challenges almost every part of the conventional biography. Mao Tse-Tung (also written Zedong) led the Communist Party of China from 1943 until his death in 1976. Mao: The Unknown Story was written by Jung Chang, who described the suffering of her family during the cultural revolution in the bestseller Wild Swans and her husband, the historian Jon Halliday. They spent 10 years documenting the life of Chairman Mao, including interviews with members of his inner circle, and they incorporate newly available material from Soviet archives. Some critics charge that the result is an unrelenting polemic, but most describe the book as a compelling and convincing study that will upend Mao's reputation and challenge the political system that he created.