Mao (Profiles in Power Series)

Rating:
Summary: mao as a puppet of who knows who
Review: The problem with this book is that it's very short. All the author's opinions, and his most controversial reviews of any situation have to remain unjustified, and they do remain unjustified. The pre-People's Republic Mao part is the weakest point: the Kuomintang, we read, was corrupt and unefficient, so they lost the power. Bye, bye. Is that all? I certainly believe it shouldn't be all: something like a brief explanation on China's traditional land ownership and Kuomintang policy on the subject (if there ever was one, and I bet there was one, even a fake one) is missed. The other thing I don't like is the explanation of Mao's foreign policy as one of "poor little scared boy looking for love". Sometimes, when critizicing US trends towards China, the author seems to forget an important Chinese Characteristic: the People's Republic happens to be Communist.