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Mao: A Biography
Everyone who came in close contact with Mao was taken aback at the anarchy of his personal ways. He ate idiosyncratically. He became increasingly sexually promiscuous as he aged. He would stay up much of the night, sleep during much of the day, and at times he would postpone sleep, remaining awake for thirty-six hours or more, until tension and exhaustion overcame him. Yet many people who met Mao came away deeply impressed by his intellectual reach, originality, style of power-within-simplicity, kindness toward low-level staff members, and the aura of respect that surrounded him at the top of Chinese politics. It would seem difficult to reconcile these two disparate views of Mao. But in a fundamental sense there was no brick wall between Mao the person and Mao the leader. This biography attempts to provide a comprehensive account of this powerful and polarizing historical figure.
576 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 5, 2014
(note: this review is of the original, 1980 edition)
Lives up to the title in that it explains Mao and only Mao -- nothing about historical context or the people that Mao encountered, and ridden with cliches.
Examples:
"All through history the semi-intellectual has been the most potent person in an inchoate political situation."
How? Any examples besides Mao? What exactly defines a semi-intellectual?
"The results were disastrous. Battles were lost. Troops deserted. Towns that had been held by the reds fell to the enemy."
What battles were lost? Why were they lost? Why did troops desert?
"Two men set out with the precious bottles; one was beheaded en route, one got through."
A man is beheaded and you're not going to tell me why? You won't even explain what the hell it is about China in the early 1900s that allows people to be beheaded while carrying precious bottles?
Most egregiously, at age 14 Mao is arranged to be married to a woman 6 years his senior. But we never hear anything about what becomes of this wife, if they divorced, how Mao treated her, and so forth.
Terrill's book was published in 1980, only four years after Mao's death. One gets the idea Terrill can't be blamed for this book's errors (which are legion) is left to wonder if everything feels so haphazard because of publisher pressure to beat other Mao bios. Find a later edition by a different author; this one went obsolete the day it was published.
Lives up to the title in that it explains Mao and only Mao -- nothing about historical context or the people that Mao encountered, and ridden with cliches.
Examples:
"All through history the semi-intellectual has been the most potent person in an inchoate political situation."
How? Any examples besides Mao? What exactly defines a semi-intellectual?
"The results were disastrous. Battles were lost. Troops deserted. Towns that had been held by the reds fell to the enemy."
What battles were lost? Why were they lost? Why did troops desert?
"Two men set out with the precious bottles; one was beheaded en route, one got through."
A man is beheaded and you're not going to tell me why? You won't even explain what the hell it is about China in the early 1900s that allows people to be beheaded while carrying precious bottles?
Most egregiously, at age 14 Mao is arranged to be married to a woman 6 years his senior. But we never hear anything about what becomes of this wife, if they divorced, how Mao treated her, and so forth.
Terrill's book was published in 1980, only four years after Mao's death. One gets the idea Terrill can't be blamed for this book's errors (which are legion) is left to wonder if everything feels so haphazard because of publisher pressure to beat other Mao bios. Find a later edition by a different author; this one went obsolete the day it was published.
July 10, 2015
A 639 page book on the life of Mao Zedong the founder of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader (also founder member). Now I wanted to learn about Mao but I think (I know) I started with something a bit ahead of me as for a lot of the time I was losing track and was wondering if the weather outside was going to get any cooler soon or if I should buy more coffee from the grocery store and realised I had read 10 pages without taking anything in. This is probably my fault more than the author though and I do feel dreadfully mean for only giving two stars as I know how influential the book has been, especially in China, but it just did not keep me engaged.
Born in 1893 as a farm boy in Hunan province Mao (meaning hair) and Zedong (anoint the east) was brought up in Music Mountain and never went more than 22 miles from it until he left for good at the age of 16. His father died when he was 14. He did not get on with his father who ventured more into the Capitalist realm of land-owning and becoming a landlord. His mother, a Buddhist, could not read or write and the family was stuck in the old feudal system which includes forced marriage. He was 14 when his marriage was arranged.
It was this feudal system and old China that Mao wanted to get away from. In October 1911 the revolutionaries moved against the last dynasty - Qing (forced abdication in February 1912). The Qing had ruled since 1644.
The book follows Mao going to teacher training college and then moving to Peking (Beijing) to work in a University Library where he read Marx and Lenin.
Follows Mao's life, relationships, marriages (4 times), children:
Long March (where the Red Army went 6000 miles in 10 months and at that point the enemy were the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-Shek)
Hoisting of the PRC flag on 1 Oct 1949, land reforms
Hundred Flowers campaign in 1956 / 57 - the citizens were encouraged to openly express their criticisms of the communist regime. The response was huge and Mao turned on the critics. it was more a trap and the critics were seen as enemies of the state and 1.5 million of them perished
Great Leap Forward in 1958 -the effort to become industrialized and make steel which meant that agriculture was neglected due to the diversion of labour which induced a famine causing 30 - 43 million to be perish and there was even an effort to kill all sparrows as these ate grain but what they did not realise was that the sparrows actually ate insects/ worms that ate more grain than the sparrows
Nuclear bombs - Mao wanted these
Cultural Revolution of 1966 - wants the young generation to rise up and re-shape society. Mao really wanted the intellectuals and old hierarchy out as he felt his power slipping. The young Red Guards mission was to rebel and destroy. They were killing and eating people and it lasted for 10 years.
Born in 1893 as a farm boy in Hunan province Mao (meaning hair) and Zedong (anoint the east) was brought up in Music Mountain and never went more than 22 miles from it until he left for good at the age of 16. His father died when he was 14. He did not get on with his father who ventured more into the Capitalist realm of land-owning and becoming a landlord. His mother, a Buddhist, could not read or write and the family was stuck in the old feudal system which includes forced marriage. He was 14 when his marriage was arranged.
It was this feudal system and old China that Mao wanted to get away from. In October 1911 the revolutionaries moved against the last dynasty - Qing (forced abdication in February 1912). The Qing had ruled since 1644.
The book follows Mao going to teacher training college and then moving to Peking (Beijing) to work in a University Library where he read Marx and Lenin.
Follows Mao's life, relationships, marriages (4 times), children:
Long March (where the Red Army went 6000 miles in 10 months and at that point the enemy were the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-Shek)
Hoisting of the PRC flag on 1 Oct 1949, land reforms
Hundred Flowers campaign in 1956 / 57 - the citizens were encouraged to openly express their criticisms of the communist regime. The response was huge and Mao turned on the critics. it was more a trap and the critics were seen as enemies of the state and 1.5 million of them perished
Great Leap Forward in 1958 -the effort to become industrialized and make steel which meant that agriculture was neglected due to the diversion of labour which induced a famine causing 30 - 43 million to be perish and there was even an effort to kill all sparrows as these ate grain but what they did not realise was that the sparrows actually ate insects/ worms that ate more grain than the sparrows
Nuclear bombs - Mao wanted these
Cultural Revolution of 1966 - wants the young generation to rise up and re-shape society. Mao really wanted the intellectuals and old hierarchy out as he felt his power slipping. The young Red Guards mission was to rebel and destroy. They were killing and eating people and it lasted for 10 years.
October 29, 2024
原来这本书在西方没什么人看 因为这个作者是毛粉。买的原版旧书味道很大，现在我基本是英文书读累了才读中文的当做消遣，但还是觉得读中文书有点浪费时间。作为莫里斯那本书的补充，这个书翻译腔比较严重 前面几章基本都是《西行漫记》的描述。后面写的和很吸引人，基本还原了真实的毛泽东。作者是个毛粉。政治就是为达目的不择手段。
March 27, 2019
(B-school) Really hard to find a good biography of Mao. One of the challenges of learning about Mao is that he's generally presented through a Western lens, which is obviously heavily biased against communism and therefore biased against Mao. By contrast, Terrill is biased FOR Mao, highlighting the significance of his influence on modern China while downplaying his obviously flawed economic and political views. However the book is poorly written as an entry-level biography for the uniformed. Terrill assumes an understanding of Chinese culture and history as well as the nuances of the different communist views (Marx vs. Stalin vs. Lenin), making much of his analysis hard to follow. I also found myself wanting more details in some areas (civil and Sino-Japanese wars, Cultural Revolution) and less detail in others (nuances of communist views, Mao as a political leader). Overall a very challenging subject to write on, but missed the mark for me in a lot of ways.
February 18, 2017
Very good, comprehensive book detailing the life of Mao Zedong. Terrill focuses less on Marxism-Leninism and more on Chinese traditional culture (ex. Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Story of the Marshes, Journey to the West etc.) as the core influences of Mao's ideology. My only gripe with Terrill is his sensationalism at times in the book. Also, he doesn't seem to cast any doubt on the (IMO) highly dubious account of the CCP soldiers who swung on the ropes of a half-destroyed bridge to throw grenades on the KMT, eventually overwhelming them (this was during the Long March).
February 15, 2022
Curiously amoral account. The deaths of millions of people don’t rate a mention in his legacy and are sort of footnotes to the Great Leap Forward. Much easier to admire if you leave out the deaths.
November 25, 2022
see a great man in a different lense
August 2, 2020
A hagiography from someone who gets high on powerful people. The Private Life of Chairman Mao is a much more valuable read than the mysticism of Terrill.
May 2, 2026
I once again have fallen for the same old trap of reading a huge biography even though I absolutely hate reading a whole book about one person. Even if that person is my guy Mao. Weirdly written in a fragmented style with minimal sourcing, the writer somehow turns maybe the most interesting man of the 20th century into a snoozefest. What a shame.
January 27, 2022
Ross's style of depicting Mao's life is rather smooth and poem liking, making its reading rather entertaining. It shouldn't be taken as serious historical accounting or official chronicle of Mao's political career.
October 30, 2018
Ross Terrill knows Chinese history well...but he barely understands Chinese culture
December 10, 2020
Gran biografía.... Las bases de la actual potencia mundial (China)
September 27, 2025
Unreadable. There should be better bio of mao.
December 8, 2025
This book provided a new perspective about Mao, maybe it’s more objective.
March 27, 2011
I decided to read a biography of Mao after seeing "Nixon in China," the opera by John Adams, in a live-at-the-met" production a couple of months ago. Seeing the opera made me realize how little I knew about Mao, although I'd taken two terms of Chinese/Japanese history in college in the mid-60s. (Those covered mostly the ancient cultural history and certainly didn't go beyond mid-19th century at all.) Reviews led me to this revised 1999 edition of Terrill's biography.
I was somewhat alarmed by what seemed to me a tendency to uncritical acceptance of Mao's own recollections of his childhood and early youth, but I suppose that that's almost inevitable when dealing with the very early life of someone completely unknown and insignificant at that stage of life. Documentation, naturally enough, steadily improves as the book goes along.
I do think it's well-written and I found it kept my interest keen after the childhood section. I haven't read enough about Mao and modern Chinese history to judge how accurate it is, but it certainly has been praised by those who know more. And it's heightened my interest sufficiently so that I expect to read more about the history of the era and today's China as well.
I was somewhat alarmed by what seemed to me a tendency to uncritical acceptance of Mao's own recollections of his childhood and early youth, but I suppose that that's almost inevitable when dealing with the very early life of someone completely unknown and insignificant at that stage of life. Documentation, naturally enough, steadily improves as the book goes along.
I do think it's well-written and I found it kept my interest keen after the childhood section. I haven't read enough about Mao and modern Chinese history to judge how accurate it is, but it certainly has been praised by those who know more. And it's heightened my interest sufficiently so that I expect to read more about the history of the era and today's China as well.
July 31, 2011
It is always interesting to get outsider's view on our country's great historical figures. Perhaps for a more balanced description from a less 'red-coloured" eye.
April 27, 2015
I read this many years ago. It is a masterpiece. A complete objective account of Mao and China.
September 22, 2016
读初中时看完的，很棒
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September 15, 2011This is one of my favorite bios of one Chairman Mao
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews