Praise for Mao Zedong: A Life:
“Spence is the best known and most talented historian of China writing in English today. . . . His Mao Zedong succeeds.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Exceptionally successful.”
—The New Yorker
“The task of bringing Mao to a large, non-specialist audience is one for which Spence is eminently well-suited. His lucidly written, compellingly narrated explorations of modern Chinese history have attracted a readership unmatched by that of any other academic China specialist. His study of Mao is short . . . his writing tight, his judgments restrained.”
—The Washington Post
“An elegant account, at once sparse and robust.”
—The Economist
“Jonathan Spence [is] an eloquent chronicler of Chinese history. . . . [A] brisk, elegant book. . . . Spence skillfully uses Mao’s letters and poems to explore the Chinese leader’s thinking and relationships.”
—USA Today
“There is no better person to write a general, readable account of Mao than Spence, an acclaimed Chinese historian and author of several biographies.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“Fluid and informative despite its brevity.”
—Publishers Weekly
