Mao Zedong's political career spanned more than half a century. The ideas he championed transformed one of the largest nations on earth and inspired revolutionary movements across the world. Even today Mao lives on in China, where he is regarded by many as a near-mythical figure, and in the West, where a burgeoning literature continues to debate his memory. In this book, leading scholars from different generations and around the world offer a critical evaluation of the life and legacy of China's most famous - some would say infamous - son. The book brings the scholarship on Mao up to date, and its alternative perspectives equip readers to assess for themselves the nature of this mercurial figure and his significance in modern Chinese history.

"It is important to understand Mao, and this book makes a contribution to such understanding."—Hong Kong Economic Journal

"Timothy Cheek’s anthology 'A Critical Introduction to Mao' attest[s] to the difficulty of definitively fixing Mao’s image, a project that amounts to writing a history of China’s present.... The most stimulating chapters in the academic collection... discuss Mao's "Sinification" of a European tradition of revolution."—The New Yorker

"The chapters in Cheek’s collection contribute to an understanding of Mao Zedong that is as messy and complex as it is compelling. The text, moreover, encourages readers to engage the problem of knowing the historical Mao, while reminding the reader of the equal importance of Mao’s ahistorical legacy." - Brian J. DeMare, Tulane University, Twentieth Century China and The China Beat