A half-century after his death, Mao Zedong remains one of history’s most polarising figures: a peasant boy who became a revolutionary leader; a general in World War II; and finally the ‘Great Helmsman’, the founding father of the People’s Republic of China. Jonathan Clements’ concise yet comprehensive biography bridges the gap between the man and the revolutionary, considering Mao’s story as one of national liberation and human tragedy: from the ending of China’s ‘Century of Humiliation’ and his ‘mass line’ ideology to the brutal cost of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Mao is no static icon on a banknote, but the architect of a superpower whose ideas, methods, and personal life are continually re-examined, revised, and redacted, not least by the Chinese state. He is depicted on the walls of classrooms and on family altars, and his influence persists in shaping China’s position on the world stage, the security of Taiwan, and global power dynamics today.
