We look forward to seeing you on your next visit to the library. Find a location near you.

Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

Book Cover
Average Rating
5 star
 
(0)
4 star
 
(1)
3 star
 
(0)
2 star
 
(0)
1 star
 
(0)
Published:
Walker Books 2010
Status:
Checked Out
Description

Between 1958 and 1962, China descended into hell. Mao Zedong threw his country into a frenzy with the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to catch up to and overtake Britain in less than 15 years The experiment ended in the greatest catastrophe the country had ever known, destroying tens of millions of lives. So opens Frank Dikötter's riveting, magnificently detailed chronicle of an era in Chinese history much speculated about but never before fully documented because access to Communist Party archives has long been restricted to all but the most trusted historians. A new archive law has opened up thousands of central and provincial documents that "fundamentally change the way one can study the Maoist era." Dikötter makes clear, as nobody has before, that far from being the program that would lift the country among the world's superpowers and prove the power of Communism, as Mao imagined, the Great Leap Forward transformed the country in the other direction. It became the site not only of "one of the most deadly mass killings of human history,"—at least 45 million people were worked, starved, or beaten to death—but also of "the greatest demolition of real estate in human history," as up to one-third of all housing was turned into rubble). The experiment was a catastrophe for the natural world as well, as the land was savaged in the maniacal pursuit of steel and other industrial accomplishments. In a powerful mesghing of exhaustive research in Chinese archives and narrative drive, Dikötter for the first time links up what happened in the corridors of power-the vicious backstabbing and bullying tactics that took place among party leaders-with the everyday experiences of ordinary people, giving voice to the dead and disenfranchised. His magisterial account recasts the history of the People's Republic of China. An unprecedented, groundbreaking history of China's Great Famine that recasts the era of Mao Zedong and the history of the People's Republic of China. Frank Dikötter is Chair Professor of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong and Professor of the Modern History of China at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is a key proponent of studying the history of China in global perspective, and has published a series of innovative books, from his classic The Discourse of Race in Modern China (Univ. Stanford Press 1992) to the controversial Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China (Univ. Chicago Press 2004). He lives in Hong Kong.

Also in This Series
Formats
Adobe EPUB eBook
Works on all eReaders (except Kindles), desktop computers and mobile devices with reading apps installed.
Kindle Book
Works on Kindles and devices with a Kindle app installed.
OverDrive Read
Need Help?
If you are having problem transferring a title to your device, please fill out this support form or visit the library so we can help you to use our eBooks and eAudio Books.
More Like This
Other Editions and Formats
More Copies In LINK+
Loading LINK+ Copies...
More Details
Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
10/01/2010
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780802779281
ASIN:
B004BDOM24
Reviews from GoodReads
Loading GoodReads Reviews.
Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Frank Dikötter. (2010). Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962. Walker Books.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Frank Dikötter. 2010. Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962. Walker Books.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Frank Dikötter, Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962. Walker Books, 2010.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Frank Dikötter. Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962. Walker Books, 2010.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
Copy Details
LibraryOwnedAvailable
Shared Digital Collection10
Staff View
Grouped Work ID:
79e9a426-52f2-1e11-bffa-7cb44c64f7b3
Go To Grouped Work
Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 16:01:41
Date Updated:
Dec 06, 2020 02:42:08
Last Metadata Check:
Mar 26, 2024 10:11:52
Last Metadata Change:
Mar 03, 2024 07:29:30
Last Availability Check:
Mar 26, 2024 10:11:54
Last Availability Change:
Mar 26, 2024 10:11:54
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Mar 28, 2024 02:11:39

OverDrive Product Record

images
    • cover:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/2183-1/{E9D6A28C-F4AD-4D9E-AB55-B231E23AFAD4}Img100.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • thumbnail:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/2183-1/{E9D6A28C-F4AD-4D9E-AB55-B231E23AFAD4}Img200.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover150Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/2183-1/E9D/6A2/8C/{E9D6A28C-F4AD-4D9E-AB55-B231E23AFAD4}Img150.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover300Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/2183-1/E9D/6A2/8C/{E9D6A28C-F4AD-4D9E-AB55-B231E23AFAD4}Img400.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
formats
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780802779281
      • name: Adobe EPUB eBook
      • id: ebook-epub-adobe
      • identifiers:
            • type: ASIN
            • value: B004BDOM24
      • name: Kindle Book
      • id: ebook-kindle
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780802779281
      • name: OverDrive Read
      • id: ebook-overdrive
otherFormatIdentifiers
      • type: ISBN
      • value: 9780802777683
mediaType
eBook
primaryCreator
    • role: Author
    • name: Frank Dikötter
title
Mao's Great Famine
dateAdded
2016-12-01T14:22:00-05:00
contentDetails
      • href: https://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=141&titleID=484999
      • type: text/html
      • account:
          • name: Sacramento Public Library (CA)
          • id: 1151
sortTitle
Maos Great Famine
crossRefId
484999
subtitle
The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962
id
e9d6a28c-f4ad-4d9e-ab55-b231e23afad4
starRating
4

OverDrive MetaData

isPublicDomain
False
formats
      • fileName: MaosGreatFamine_9780802779281_484999
      • partCount: 0
      • fileSize: 2283747
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780802779281
      • rights:
            • type: Copying
            • value: 0
            • type: Printing
            • value: 0
            • type: Lending
            • value: 0
            • type: ReadAloud
            • value: 1
            • type: ExpirationRights
            • value: 0
      • name: Adobe EPUB eBook
      • isReadAlong: False
      • id: ebook-epub-adobe
      • onSaleDate: 11/17/2010
      • samples:
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-epub-adobe
            • url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-410/2183-1/E9D/6A2/8C/MaosGreatFamine.epub
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-overdrive
            • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=E9D6A28C-F4AD-4D9E-AB55-B231E23AFAD4&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
      • fileName: MaosGreatFamine_484999
      • partCount: 0
      • fileSize: 0
      • identifiers:
            • type: ASIN
            • value: B004BDOM24
      • name: Kindle Book
      • isReadAlong: False
      • id: ebook-kindle
      • onSaleDate: 11/17/2010
      • samples:
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-epub-adobe
            • url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-410/2183-1/E9D/6A2/8C/MaosGreatFamine.epub
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-overdrive
            • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=E9D6A28C-F4AD-4D9E-AB55-B231E23AFAD4&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
      • fileName: MaosGreatFamine_9780802779281_484999
      • partCount: 0
      • fileSize: 0
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780802779281
      • name: OverDrive Read
      • isReadAlong: False
      • id: ebook-overdrive
      • onSaleDate: 11/17/2010
      • samples:
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-epub-adobe
            • url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-410/2183-1/E9D/6A2/8C/MaosGreatFamine.epub
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-overdrive
            • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=E9D6A28C-F4AD-4D9E-AB55-B231E23AFAD4&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
creators
      • role: Author
      • fileAs: Dikötter, Frank
      • name: Frank Dikötter
publishDate
2010-10-01T00:00:00-04:00
isOwnedByCollections
True
title
Mao's Great Famine
fullDescription

Between 1958 and 1962, China descended into hell. Mao Zedong threw his country into a frenzy with the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to catch up to and overtake Britain in less than 15 years The experiment ended in the greatest catastrophe the country had ever known, destroying tens of millions of lives. So opens Frank Dikötter's riveting, magnificently detailed chronicle of an era in Chinese history much speculated about but never before fully documented because access to Communist Party archives has long been restricted to all but the most trusted historians. A new archive law has opened up thousands of central and provincial documents that "fundamentally change the way one can study the Maoist era." Dikötter makes clear, as nobody has before, that far from being the program that would lift the country among the world's superpowers and prove the power of Communism, as Mao imagined, the Great Leap Forward transformed the country in the other direction. It became the site not only of "one of the most deadly mass killings of human history,"—at least 45 million people were worked, starved, or beaten to death—but also of "the greatest demolition of real estate in human history," as up to one-third of all housing was turned into rubble). The experiment was a catastrophe for the natural world as well, as the land was savaged in the maniacal pursuit of steel and other industrial accomplishments. In a powerful mesghing of exhaustive research in Chinese archives and narrative drive, Dikötter for the first time links up what happened in the corridors of power-the vicious backstabbing and bullying tactics that took place among party leaders-with the everyday experiences of ordinary people, giving voice to the dead and disenfranchised. His magisterial account recasts the history of the People's Republic of China. An unprecedented, groundbreaking history of China's Great Famine that recasts the era of Mao Zedong and the history of the People's Republic of China. Frank Dikötter is Chair Professor of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong and Professor of the Modern History of China at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is a key proponent of studying the history of China in global perspective, and has published a series of innovative books, from his classic The Discourse of Race in Modern China (Univ. Stanford Press 1992) to the controversial Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China (Univ. Chicago Press 2004). He lives in Hong Kong.

reviews
      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        August 23, 2010
        Taking advantage of newly opened Party archives, Dikötter, a University of London historian who has specialized in modern China, presents a bleak, gruesomely detailed account of perhaps history's worst famine. A decade after assuming power, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, designed to quickly develop his impoverished nation, substituting mass action for planning and investment. A catastrophe followed. Forests were destroyed to feed 500,000 backyard blast furnaces that produced expensive but poor quality iron. Under miserable conditions, factory workers fulfilled hopelessly optimistic quotas with shoddy goods. Coerced into communes, millions of subsistence farmers neglected their fields to labor on poorly planned dams or irrigation projects; others demolished houses and barns to use as fertilizer. Falsifying figures, local officials proclaimed vast increases in food production. Shipping off the usual fraction of actual production for urban provisions and exports left little behind, so peasants starved; more than 40 million Chinese died. This is not a historical overview but an intensively researched litany of suffering, packed with statistics, grim anecdotes, and self-serving explanations by leaders responsible for the devastation. 8 pages of b&w photos.

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        Starred review from June 15, 2010

        A direct, hard-hitting study of China's Great Leap Forward in light of newly opened archival material.

        Veteran China historian Dikötter (Humanities/Univ. of Hong Kong, Modern History of China/Univ. of London; The Age of Openness: China Before Mao, 2008, etc.) parses this staggering tragedy into three manageable, comprehensive components: Mao Zedong's bloody-minded resolve to implement the accelerated collectivization of the countryside, and the stifling of all opposition; the effects of these devastating policies on agriculture, industry, trade, housing and nature; and the catastrophic human toll ("at least 45 million people died unnecessarily between 1958 and 1962"). Vying bombastically with the Soviet Union to overtake the Western imperialistic powers in economic production, Mao was bent on purging opposition and prodding provincial cronies to harness China's real wealth—its huge labor force—in order to transform the countryside in schemes of rapid, reckless modernization. China was "in the grip of gigantism," and mass mobilization was needed to fulfill inflated targets for agricultural and industrial output. Communes tried to outdo each other in zeal, and laggards were paraded in front of others to be humiliated and tortured. Deep ploughing and close cropping, supposed "innovative methods," reaped woeful yields, and the "command economy" forced villagers "to sell grain before their own subsistence needs were met." Yet critics were cowed into silence, and Mao delivered only glowing reports to the public. Despite trickling news of crop failure, China met foreign-trade commitments by exporting grain. But by 1960, due to "unprecedented natural catastrophes," they had to adopt a humiliating policy of importing grain from capitalist markets. Meanwhile, people were dying in droves, and Dikötter delivers a scathing litany of abuses visited on the most vulnerable—children, women and the elderly.

        A horrifically eye-opening work of a dark period of Chinese history that desperately cries out for further examination.

         

        (COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

      • premium: True
      • source: Library Journal
      • content:

        August 1, 2010

        From 1958 to 1962, Mao Zedong oversaw a massive collectivization, announced to the world as his "Great Leap Forward," an attempt to push China, both agriculturally and industrially, into the 20th century. Instead Mao destroyed the lives of millions of Chinese, forcing them to work under inhuman conditions on "the people's" farms. A devastating famine that killed approximately 30 million resulted from poor planning, execution, and widespread corruption. When even Mao's closest colleagues began to point out this folly, Mao consolidated his power and continued down this road of devastation with the "Great Cultural Revolution" (1966-76). Dikotter (Sch. of Oriental & African Studies, Univ. of London; The Discourse of Race in Modern China) writes a compelling account of the Great Leap Forward. VERDICT Aided by newly released historical documents detailing the savage infighting and backstabbing of those in power and the extent of the nationwide damage, Dikotter has produced one of the best single-volume resources on the topic. Although a scholarly, heavily footnoted work, its flowing narrative--effectively a cautionary tale on the destructive powers of misguided ambition and blind hubris--reads well. Recommended for specialists as well as interested general readers.--Glenn Masuchika, Pennsylvania State University Lib., University Park

        Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • premium: True
      • source: Booklist
      • content:

        September 1, 2010
        In 1958, Mao Zedong, perhaps influenced by Khrushchevs boast that the Soviet Union would surpass the U.S. in key aspects of industrial production within 10 years, launched Chinas Great Leap Forward. This was a tragically delusional effort to dramatically improve agricultural and industrial production, far beyond any realistic possibility, given Chinas limited economic base. The human costs of this folly were catastrophic. Diktter, professor of modern history of China at the University of London, utilizes newly available material, including Communist Party archives and accounts by individual Chinese citizens, to chronicle these horrors in stomach-churning detail. By the time even Mao recognized his failure in 1962, Diktter credibly asserts that as many as 45 million Chinese died from starvation, execution, and maltreatment under forced labor. Ultimate responsibility rests with Mao and his indifference to individual human suffering, but Diktter also condemns other high-ranking party officials who recognized the failures early on but lacked the courage to challenge Mao. This is an important work illustrating the dangers of one individual holding power to force millions to fulfill his personal fantasies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        Starred review from June 15, 2010

        A direct, hard-hitting study of China's Great Leap Forward in light of newly opened archival material.

        Veteran China historian Dik�tter (Humanities/Univ. of Hong Kong, Modern History of China/Univ. of London; The Age of Openness: China Before Mao, 2008, etc.) parses this staggering tragedy into three manageable, comprehensive components: Mao Zedong's bloody-minded resolve to implement the accelerated collectivization of the countryside, and the stifling of all opposition; the effects of these devastating policies on agriculture, industry, trade, housing and nature; and the catastrophic human toll ("at least 45 million people died unnecessarily between 1958 and 1962"). Vying bombastically with the Soviet Union to overtake the Western imperialistic powers in economic production, Mao was bent on purging opposition and prodding provincial cronies to harness China's real wealth--its huge labor force--in order to transform the countryside in schemes of rapid, reckless modernization. China was "in the grip of gigantism," and mass mobilization was needed to fulfill inflated targets for agricultural and industrial output. Communes tried to outdo each other in zeal, and laggards were paraded in front of others to be humiliated and tortured. Deep ploughing and close cropping, supposed "innovative methods," reaped woeful yields, and the "command economy" forced villagers "to sell grain before their own subsistence needs were met." Yet critics were cowed into silence, and Mao delivered only glowing reports to the public. Despite trickling news of crop failure, China met foreign-trade commitments by exporting grain. But by 1960, due to "unprecedented natural catastrophes," they had to adopt a humiliating policy of importing grain from capitalist markets. Meanwhile, people were dying in droves, and Dik�tter delivers a scathing litany of abuses visited on the most vulnerable--children, women and the elderly.

        A horrifically eye-opening work of a dark period of Chinese history that desperately cries out for further examination.

        (COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

popularity
41
links
    • self:
        • href: https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L1BWwAAAA2I/products/e9d6a28c-f4ad-4d9e-ab55-b231e23afad4/metadata
        • type: application/vnd.overdrive.api+json
id
e9d6a28c-f4ad-4d9e-ab55-b231e23afad4
starRating
4.3
images
    • cover:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/2183-1/{E9D6A28C-F4AD-4D9E-AB55-B231E23AFAD4}Img100.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • thumbnail:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/2183-1/{E9D6A28C-F4AD-4D9E-AB55-B231E23AFAD4}Img200.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover150Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/2183-1/E9D/6A2/8C/{E9D6A28C-F4AD-4D9E-AB55-B231E23AFAD4}Img150.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover300Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/2183-1/E9D/6A2/8C/{E9D6A28C-F4AD-4D9E-AB55-B231E23AFAD4}Img400.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
isPublicPerformanceAllowed
False
languages
      • code: en
      • name: English
subjects
      • value: History
      • value: Nonfiction
publishDateText
10/01/2010
otherFormatIdentifiers
      • type: ISBN
      • value: 9780802777683
mediaType
eBook
shortDescription

Between 1958 and 1962, China descended into hell. Mao Zedong threw his country into a frenzy with the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to catch up to and overtake Britain in less than 15 years The experiment ended in the greatest catastrophe the country had ever known, destroying tens of millions of lives. So opens Frank Dikötter's riveting, magnificently detailed chronicle of an era in Chinese history much speculated about but never before fully documented because access to Communist Party archives has long been restricted to all but the most trusted historians. A new archive law has opened up thousands of central and provincial documents that "fundamentally change the way one can study the Maoist era." Dikötter makes clear, as nobody has before, that far from being the program that would lift the country among the world's superpowers and prove the power of Communism, as Mao imagined, the Great Leap Forward transformed the country in the other direction. It became the site not...

sortTitle
Maos Great Famine
crossRefId
484999
subtitle
The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962
publisher
Walker Books
bisacCodes
      • code: HIS000000
      • description: History / General