This major study examines Deng Xiaoping's life in the sweeping context of the events of Chinese history: the ascent of Communism, the Long March, the Japanese invasion, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Square. Deng emerges from this elegantly written book not only as a steadfast revolutionary spirit, but as, undoubtedly, one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century.
I enjoyed enormously this book: it doesnt try to sell a myth or an epic and doesnt "side" with Deng. The author is a former diplomat and an "old china hand" and the reader can fully benefit from a deep, thoughtful and unemotional analysis by an insider. The book is factual, doesnt try to prove any theory and gives you also an excellent overview of the whole Chinese history in this century. I particularly enjoyed the shrewd analysis of all the characters and of their motivations, as you would expect it from the eyes of a professional diplomat gauging his counterparts.
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