Posts Tagged ‘Mao biography’

‘Maoism’ by Julia Lovell

August 27th, 2019

WHO: Julia Lovell

WHAT: MAOISM: A Global History

WHEN: Published by Knopf September 4, 2019

WHERE: The author lives in London.

WHY: “Eloquent, engrossing, intelligent.
“Julia Lovell has given us a masterful corrective to the greatest misconception about today’s China. For too long, visitors who marveled at China’s new luxuries and capitalist zeal assumed that Maoism had gone the way of its creator. That was a mistake. Lovell’s account not only explains why Xi Jinping has revived some of Mao’s techniques, but also why Mao’s playbook for the ‘People’s War’ retains an intoxicating and tragic appeal to marginalized people the world over.” —Evan Osnos

“Compelling. Maoism has long outlived Mao, who died in 1976. Dating Maoism’s inception to the publication and dissemination of Edgar Snow’s Red Star over China (1937), British historian Julia Lovell recounts the international phenomenon of Maoism since that time. She covers everything from cataclysmic world events to less-significant incidents arising from a reading of Snow’s account or Mao’s own Little Red Book. In so doing, she describes chapter-by-chapter Maoism’s varying influence around the world—in Africa; throughout Asia, including India and Nepal (this section includes some of the book’s rare humor); and, briefly, in America, with the Black Panthers. Her knowledgeable depiction of events in Peru (Shining Path) is particularly vivid and grisly. Lovell’s experience as a renowned sinologist brings authority to her compelling argument. The rift between Russia and China is explained in painstaking detail. Finally, events in China today itself bring Lovell’s account full circle.” —Mark Levine, BOOKLIST

“A useful key to understanding the role of China in the modern world, a role that is increasingly influential.” –KIRKUS REVIEWS

Jacket photo

Media Resources:
About the book and author | Read an excerpt | Download the jacket | Download the author photo

Knopf. 24 pages of photographs.
610 pages. $37.50 ISBN 978-0-525-65604-3


To interview the author, contact:
Emily Reardon | 212-572-2018 | ereardon@penguinrandomhouse.com