Rethinking Mao: Explorations in Mao Zedong's Thought - Tapa dura

Distinguished China scholar Nick Knight has been researching Mao Zedong's thought for nearly four decades. Departing from recent conventional research, which tends to demonize and/or scoff at Mao, Knight takes Mao very seriously, both as a socialist leader and as a Marxist. In this important and aptly titled book, Knight reaches many innovative, balanced, and perceptive conclusions that will surely impact greatly on the future study of a man who, whatever his failings, was undoubtedly among the towering figures of the twentieth century. -- Colin Mackerras, professor emeritus, Department of International Business and Asian Studies, Griffith University Rethinking Mao not only offers something new, it does so with a critical depth that others eschew.... Rethinking Mao not only offers a sophisticated analysis of Mao's historicism, it is itself an excellent example of historicist scholarship. * Journal of Chinese Political Science * Nick Knight has distinguished himself over the years as one of the most astute readers and interpreters of Mao's thought. Rethinking Mao brings together a lifetime of scholarship, revisited and revised with the benefit of contemporary hindsight. The volume is a serious reminder of the historical and theoretical significance of Mao's thought at a time when most writing on Mao, riding the wave of anti-socialism, has degenerated into little more than malicious gossip. It also coincides with a reevaluation of Mao's policies in the PRC as possible inspiration in confronting the problems created by three decades of reform that turned its back on his revolutionary legacy. -- Arif Dirlik, author of Marxism in the Chinese Revolution

Rethinking Mao offers an innovative perspective on the thought of Mao Zedong, the major architect of the Chinese Revolution and leader of the People's Republic of China until his death in 1976. Utilizing a number of recently discovered documents written by Mao, Nick Knight "rethinks" Mao by subjecting a number of controversial themes to fresh scrutiny. This book provides a sophisticated analysis of Mao's views on the role of the peasants and working class in the Chinese revolution, his theoretical attempt to make Marxism appropriate to Chinese conditions, and his understanding of the Chinese road to socialism. Knight includes a discussion of the theoretical difficulties in interpreting Mao's thought. Rethinking Mao represents a challenge to many of the conventional accounts of Mao and his thoughts. This book will appeal to scholars and students of Chinese history and politics, as well as the history of Marxism in China.