Mao Zedong: References & Edit History
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Additional Reading
A standard work on Mao in English is Ross Terrill, Mao: A Biography (1980, rev. and expanded ed. 1999); Jonathan D. Spence, Mao Zedong (1999, reissued 2006), is a readable and more concise treatment of his life. Two earlier works that remain useful for the pre-1949 period are Jerome Ch’en, Mao and the Chinese Revolution: With Thirty-Seven Poems by Mao Tse-tung (1965, reissued 1976); and Stuart R. Schram, Mao Tse-tung, rev. ed. (1967, reprinted 1977). A vivid account of Mao’s youth is his autobiography as recounted in 1936 in Edgar Snow, Red Star over China, rev. and enlarged ed. (1972, reissued 1981).
Regarding Mao Zedong’s thought, a substantial collection of source materials for the period before 1949 is available in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, 5 vol. (1961–77); as well as in Stuart R. Schram (ed.), Mao’s Road to Power: Revolutionary Writings, 1912–1949, 7 vol. (1992–2005), which remained incomplete at Schram’s death in 2012. Mao’s talks and letters from 1956 to 1971 are found in Stuart R. Schram (ed.), Mao Tse-tung Unrehearsed (1974; U.S. title Chairman Mao Talks to the People, 1975). Also useful are Jerome Ch’en (ed.), Mao Papers: Anthology and Bibliography (1970); Mao Tsetung, A Critique of Soviet Economics (1977), trans. from Chinese by Moss Roberts; Brantly Womack, The Foundations of Mao Zedong’s Political Thought, 1917–1935 (1982); Frederic Wakeman, Jr., History and Will: Philosophical Perspectives of Mao Tse-tung’s Thought (1973), which surveys Mao’s thought in his early years and links Mao’s ideas of the May Fourth period with those of the Cultural Revolution; and Raymond F. Wylie, The Emergence of Maoism (1980). John Bryan Starr, Continuing the Revolution: The Political Thought of Mao (1979), is a comprehensive overview that accepts at face value the Chinese view of the chairman during his lifetime. Among the older works, Arthur A. Cohen, The Communism of Mao Tse-tung (1964, reprinted 1971), stresses the Stalinist roots of Mao’s thought; and James Hsiung, Ideology and Practice: The Evolution of Chinese Communism (1970), emphasizes the links between Mao’s thought and Chinese tradition. Other works on his thought include Stuart R. Schram (ed.), The Political Thought of Mao Tse-tung, rev. and enlarged ed. (1969), and The Thought of Mao Tse-tung (1989). Finally, a series of useful if somewhat premature appreciations are in Dick Wilson (ed.), Mao Tse-tung in the Scales of History: A Preliminary Assessment (1977, reissued 2010).
Article Contributors
Primary Contributors
- Stuart Reynolds Schram
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Article History
| Type | Description | Contributor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invalidated site: CCU Digital Commons - Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution: In Theory and Impact. | Nov 11, 2026 | ||
| Anniversary information added. | Sep 05, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: CFR Education - How China Transformed Under Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. | Mar 28, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: CBS News - The Legacy Of Mao. | Mar 21, 2026 | ||
| Anniversary information added. | Dec 22, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: BBC - Chinese Characters - Mao Zedong: The Man Who Made Modern China. | Aug 21, 2025 | ||
| Questions and answers added. | Feb 12, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: Al Jazeera - A brief Mao Zedong biography. | Dec 13, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: CCU Digital Commons - Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution: In Theory and Impact. | May 27, 2024 | ||
| First paragraph modernization. | Apr 23, 2024 | ||
| Link added. | Oct 28, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Columbia University - Asia for Educators - Mao Zedong: Biographical and political profile. | Aug 23, 2022 | ||
| Add new Web site: Chineseposters.net - The Mao Cult. | Apr 10, 2022 | ||
| Corrected display issue. | Jan 27, 2020 | ||
| Media added. | Jan 23, 2020 | ||
| Changed title of the "Assessment" section to "Legacy." | Nov 15, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: GlobalSecurity.org - Mao Zedong. | Oct 25, 2017 | ||
| Corrected display issue. | Jul 18, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: Alpha History - The rise of Mao Zedong. | Jul 18, 2016 | ||
| Media added. | Dec 29, 2015 | ||
| Bibliography revised and updated. | Dec 29, 2015 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Dec 29, 2015 | ||
| Add new Web site: PBS - American Experience - Mao Tse-Tung. | Feb 25, 2014 | ||
| Add new Web site: Cultural China - History - Biography of Mao Zedong. | Jan 30, 2013 | ||
| Add new Web site: California State University - Biography of Mao Zedong. | Jan 30, 2013 | ||
| Add new Web site: Asia for Educators - Mao Zedong: Biographical and Political Profile. | Jan 30, 2013 | ||
| Add new Web site: Marxists Internet Archive - Mao Zedong Internet Archive. | Jun 09, 2011 | ||
| Add new Web site: People's Daily - News of the Communist Party of China - Mao's 110th Anniversary. | Jun 09, 2011 | ||
| Add new Web site: Sinohits.net - Chairman Mao Posters. | Jun 03, 2011 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Apr 06, 2008 | ||
| Bibliography revised and updated. | Apr 03, 2008 | ||
| Added new Web site: CNN - Visions of China - Mao Tse-tung. | Dec 21, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: Political Economy of the Great Leap Forward: Permanent Revolution and State Feudal Communes. | Dec 18, 2007 | ||
| Media added. | Oct 25, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: British Broadcasting Corporation - Biography of Mao Zedong. |
|
May 01, 2007 | |
| Article revised and updated. | Feb 09, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: History Learning Site - Biography of Mao Zedong. | Feb 06, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: Pegasos - Biography of Mao Zedong. | Dec 14, 2006 | ||
| Added new Web site: Time 100 - Biography of Mao Zedong. | Jul 10, 2006 | ||
| Added new Web site: Washington State University - Modern China. | Jun 21, 2006 | ||
| Article revised. | Aug 14, 2003 | ||
| Article revised. | Feb 01, 2002 | ||
| Article revised. | Jun 21, 2000 | ||
| Article added to new online database. | Jul 20, 1998 |