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Tag Archives: collective tyranny
Obey little, bake much: The Choice
The Choice© 2019 Claire Ward400 pages “Let them eat cake,” Marie Antoinette supposedly said of the people too poor to buy bread, and the words inspired revolution. The Choice throws that on its head, and makes it rallying cry — … Continue reading
Death and madness in China
The Cultural Revolution: A People’s History© 2016 Frank Dikotter433 pages In twenty-five years of reading history, I know of no man who has instigated more human suffering and death at a broader scale than Mao Tse-tung, the rebel turned architect … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged China, collective tyranny, Frank Dikotter, Man vs State
13 Comments
Wild Swans
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China© 1991 Chang Jung525 pages (My edition uses Chang’s family name first, following the Chinese custom.) Read the records of the 20th century totalitarian states, and the number of lives destroyed numbs the brain. Eleven … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged 2017 Discovery of Asia, biography, China, collective tyranny, history, memoir, women
5 Comments
The Circle
The Circle 2013 Dave Eggers 507 pages Sharing is Caring. Privacy is Theft. Secrets are Lies. Imagine an internet transformed by a company so innovative and ambitious that it had swallowed Facebook, Google, etc. whole. It began with TruYou, a … Continue reading
The Tragedy of Liberation
The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957 © 2013 Frank Dikotter 400 pages Readers who approach Frank Dikotter’s histories of Maoist China (The Tragedy of Liberation, Mao’s Great Famine, and The Cultural Revolution) should brace themselves … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged 2017 Discovery of Asia, Asia, China, collective tyranny, Frank Dikotter, history, Man vs State
5 Comments