Mao: The Unknown Story

Mao: The Unknown Story By Jung Chang, Jon Halliday
Publisher: Knopf 2005 | 832 Pages | ISBN: 0679422714 | DJVU | 11 MB



In the epilogue to her biography of Mao Tse-tung, Jung Chang and her husband and cowriter Jon Halliday lament that, "Today, Mao's portrait and his corpse still dominate Tiananmen Square in the heart of the Chinese capital." For Chang, author of Wild Swans, this fact is an affront, not just to history, but to decency. Mao: The Unknown Story does not contain a formal dedication, but it is clear that Chang is writing to honor the millions of Chinese who fell victim to Mao's drive for absolute power in his 50-plus-year struggle to dominate China and the 20th-century political landscape. From the outset, Chang and Halliday are determined to shatter the "myth" of Mao, and they succeed with the force, not just of moral outrage, but of facts. The result is a book, more indictment than portrait, that paints Mao as a brutal totalitarian, a thug, who unleashed Stalin-like purges of millions with relish and without compunction, all for his personal gain. Through the authors' unrelenting lens even his would-be heroism as the leader of the Long March and father of modern China is exposed as reckless opportunism, subjecting his charges to months of unnecessary hardship in order to maintain the upper hand over his rival, Chang Kuo-tao, an experienced military commander.
Using exhaustive research in archives all over the world, Chang and Halliday recast Mao's ascent to power and subsequent grip on China in the context of global events. Sino-Soviet relations, the strengths and weakness of Chiang Kai-shek, the Japanese invasion of China, World War II, the Korean War, the disastrous Great Leap Forward, the vicious Cultural Revolution, the Vietnam War, Nixon's visit, and the constant, unending purges all, understandably, provide the backdrop for Mao's unscrupulous but invincible political maneuverings and betrayals. No one escaped unharmed. Rivals, families, peasants, city dwellers, soldiers, and lifelong allies such as Chou En-lai were all sacrificed to Mao's ambition and paranoia. Appropriately, the authors' consciences are appalled. Their biggest fear is that Mao will escape the global condemnation and infamy he deserves. Their astonishing book will go a long way to ensure that the pendulum of history will adjust itself accordingly.


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Ronnie and Nancy: Their Path to the White House - 1911 to 1980

Ronnie and Nancy: Their Path to the White House - 1911 to 1980 By Bob Colacello
Publisher: Warner Books 2004 | 608 Pages | ISBN: 044653272X | PDF | 4 MB



Colacello is the former editor of Interview magazine and currently a special correspondent for Vanity Fair. Six years of research and approximately 200 interviews, including many talks with Nancy Reagan herself, stand behind this first volume in a planned two-part dual biography of the late president and his controversial First Lady. In nice and easy prose, in a tone that is both friendly toward his subjects but also balanced in his estimation of them (for instance, about Nancy, "I agreed that the press has been unduly hard on her. Yet it crossed my mind [that she] seemed to have a talent for playing the martyr"), Colacello takes what he calls "a social approach" to the lives of the Reagans. His basic premise, well supported here, is that the importance of Nancy and her social connections to the career of Ronald cannot be overestimated. The biography's actual structure is impeccable as the author profiles the two of them individually, in a series of alternating chapters, and then draws their stories together. This first volume deals with the pre-presidential years, which admirers of the president and Nancy will enjoy learning about; even readers less than admiring of the couple will be curious about the details of their lives, both separately and in tandem. Expect much demand.


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The Agassi Story (Repost)

The Agassi Story
Publisher: Ecw Press | ISBN: 1550226568 | edition 2004 | PDF | 192 pages | 13,7 mb

A father's unique perspective sheds light on the personal and professional life of tennis great Andre Agassi in this account of the Agassi family, from Agassi's father's participation in the Olympics to Agassi's reclamation of his number-one ranking at the age of 33. Previously untold stories illuminate the maturation of the once easily rattled, flamboyant rebel to the calm, composed, humble tennis champion. Agassi's high-profile marriages to Brooke Shields and current wife Steffi Graf are discussed in this rags-to-riches account of an athletic, talented American family.




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