Mao’s famine was no dinner party

By Jeff Kingston There are many books on the Great Leap Forward (GLF) that detail the horrific suffering inflicted on the Chinese people, and the instigating role of Mao and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is well known, so why yet another?

Frank Dikotter brings fresh evidence to the analysis gathered from various newly accessible archives and makes a strong case for raising the death toll estimates to a minimum of 45 million. He also provides further details about the debate within top CCP circles, including Chairman Mao, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi and others that eliminates any doubt that they knew what was happening and chose not to act before it was too late for far too many. Dikotter notes: "Mao was the visionary, Zhou Enlai the midwife who transformed nightmares into reality." More...

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