A review by fourtriplezed
The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957 by Frank Dikotter

4.0

A very good read by Frank Dikötter. He covers from the time of the civil war up to the Great Leap Forward. Civil wars are rarely anything but brutal, 2.5 million deaths is a figure bandied by various sources. Dikötter covers this early and not with too much length but once past he delves deeply into the early years of CP rule with initial purging of those not connected with the regime, the beginnings of the Bamboo Curtain, collectivisation measures and the attempt to reform thought. Political prisoners, made up of not just those that opposed the CP but those that failed to conform, was very interesting reading indeed. For anyone interested in this period of Chinese history this is a must read. In the end I have come out of this book, and also refer back to his brilliant, tragic and griping Mao's Great Famine, wondering if the present day Chinese consider these brutal years of Mao and reflect on the present prosperity under the CP. I look forward to Dikötter's next book on the Cultural Revolution