MADAME MAO
REVIEWS
"A MAGNIFICENT DISPLAY OF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING, RESEARCH AND
RECONSTRUCTION... THROWS MUCH LIGHT ON THE MURKY
MANEUVERS THAT TOUCHED OFF THE MADNESS OF CHINA'S CULTURAL
REVOLUTION...."
- Harrison Salisbury in Newsday.
"READS LIKE A TICKING TIME BOMB" - Publisher's Weekly.
"ONCE BEGUN, THE WHITE-BONED DEMON IS A BOOK THAT NO ONE WILL
EASILY PUT DOWN... MUST BE ONE OF THE MOST RELENTLESSLY ABSORBING
WORKS OF NONFICTION TO APPEAR IN RECENT YEARS - ON CHINA OR ANY
OTHER SUBJECT." - Professor Eric Widmer, Brown University.
"..DRAWS ON AN IMPRESSIVE ARRAY OF SOURCES, INCLUDING
RECOLLECTIONS BY MEMBERS OF MAO'S FAMILY, CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNIST
DOCUMENTS AND UNPUBLISHED MEMOIRS... SWEEPING AND SENSATIONAL...
MAO'S SAGGING REPUTATION IS FURTHER DIMINISHED BY THIS BOOK"
- Fox Butterfield in New York Times.
"ROSS TERRILL HAS DEPLOYED HIS VERY CONSIDERABLE INITIATIVE AND
INGENUITY IN USING NEW CHINESE SOURCES PROFESSIONALLY ... HE HAS
WRITTEN A VERY READABLE AND REVEALING BOOK, AND ONE WHICH DOES
NOT END WITH THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION. IT IS ONE OF THE STRENGTHS
OF THIS BIOGRAPHY THAT IT DRAWS ATTENTION TO THE ROLE OF FAMILY,
KIN AND OTHER PERSONAL NETWORKS..."
- Elisabeth Croll in Times Literary Supplement, London.
"...GIVES LIFE TO RICH DOCUMENTATION THAT REVEALS THE LONG HIDDEN
LAYERS OF PERSONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND FEUDS AT THE CORE OF CHINESE
COMMUNIST POLITICS... AN IMPRESSIVE ADDITION TO THE LITERATURE OF
PERSONALITY AND POLITICS"
- Professor Richard Solomon, Rand
"READING THE WHITE-BONED DEMON TAKES ABOUT A DAY AND A HALF AND,
IF YOU FALL UNDER ITS SPELL, YOU'LL COME OUT AFTER 30 HOURS
HAVING BEEN IN MANY DIFFERENT WORLDS... ITS A WILD LIFE, A WACKY
LIFE - MY GOD, SUCH A FREE AND INVITING AND EVIL LIFE! IF PEARL
BUCK ENTERED INTO A SICK AND CORRUPT MENAGE A TROIS WITH THAT
SHAPIRO COUPLE WHO CREATED "DYNASTY," AND THEY ALL DROPPED ACID
FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS, THEY MIGHT COME UP WITH SOMETHING AS
EXCITING AS THE LIFE OF JIANG QING, BUT I DOUBT IT."
- Los Angeles Times.
"TERRILL'S BEST WORK ON CHINA ... SHOULD BE READ BY THOSE NOT
ONLY INTERESTED IN MADAME MAO, BUT BY STUDENTS OF CHAIRMAN MAO AS
WELL." - Professor Michel Oksenberg, University Of Michigan.
"TERRILL KNOWS CONTEMPORARY CHINA BETTER THAN MOST WESTERN 'CHINA
WATCHERS' .. HIS STORY IS SUBTLE [AND] ENJOYABLE TO READ... HE
HAS WORKED HARD FOR HIS STORY ... AND HAS MADE THIS UNATTRACTIVE
PERSONALITY INTERESTING, EVEN COMPREHENSIBLE." - Prof. Wang
Gungwu, Melbourne Age.
"..TIGHTLY PACED, WELL-RESEARCHED, AND GRIPPINGLY TOLD..."
- Library Journal.
"AS A DISTINGUISHED HISTORIAN OF CHINA, ROSS TERRILL UNDERSTANDS
JIANG QING AS AN ACTRESS ON THE HISTORICAL SCENE. HE ALSO
UNDERSTANDS HER AS A WOMAN." - History Book Club review.
"ENGROSSING...FASCINATING READING." - Boston Globe
"READERS ... WILL UNDOUBTEDLY FIND THE BOOK A FASCINATING
PORTRAIT...WILDLY SUCCESSFUL IN HIS GLOBAL SEARCH FOR NEW SOURCES
... ROSS TERRILL HAS PRODUCED THE MOST COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY THAT IN
ALL LIKELIHOOD WILL EVER BE PUBLISHED ON THE FATALLY FLAWED YET
FASCINATING MADAME MAO." - Philadelphia Inquirer.
"BY LOCATING PREVIOUSLY UNTAPPED DOCUMENTS AND INTERVIEWING
SOURCES WHO KNEW JIANG QING DURING HER TEMPESTUOUS EARLY YEARS,
TERRILL HAS RE-CREATED THE CAREER OF AN UNUSUAL WOMAN WHO MAY YET
PLAY ANOTHER PART ON THE STAGE OF CHINA'S POLITICS." - New York
Tribune.
"... COMPELLING ... REVEALING. USING ORAL EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS,
TESTIMONY OF CHINESE EXPATRIATES WHO HATED AND LOVED JIANG AND
OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS OF THE PEKING ELITE SMUGGLED INTO THE WEST,
TERRILL SKETCHES A UNIQUE FIGURE - PART JOAN OF ARC, ELEANOR
ROOSEVELT AND EVA PERON." - Boston Herald.
'.. IMMENSELY READABLE, GOSSIPY AND ENERGETIC BIOGRAPHY ... [ A ]
FREE-WHEELING, EXHAUSTIVELY RESEARCHED BOOK [ BY A ]
COMPASSIONATE CHINA WATCHER WITH A REFRESHING BENT FOR
IRREVERENCE." - Susan Brownmiller in Chicago Tribune.
" WHAT WOULD A BOOK ON JOHN KENNEDY'S PECCADILLOS TELL US ABOUT
AMERICAN POLITICS ? MOST LIKELY VERY LITTLE. THE SAME CANNOT BE
SAID ABOUT CHINA, BECAUSE OF THE HIGHLY PERSONALIZED NATURE OF
CHINESE POLITICS. THAT IS WHY TERRILL'S FASCINATING BIOGRAPHY OF
JIANG QING, WHICH FOCUSSES ON FAMILY GRUDGES, PERSONAL VENDETTAS,
AND NONPOLITICAL PASSIONS, REVEALS MUCH ABOUT POLICY-MAKING."
- Merle Goldman in The New Republic.
"AN INTIMATE AND COLORFUL PORTRAIT OF ONE OF CHINA'S MOST
INTERESTING MODERN PERSONALITIES - A LIVELY, INTERESTING AND
THOUGHT-PROVOKING BOOK."
- Prof. Richard Smith in Houston Chronicle.
"AN ABSOLUTELY GRIPPING BOOK. IT IS SOLID RESEARCH AND
JOURNALISM OF THE HIGHEST ORDER ..." - Melbourne Sun
"THIS BOOK IS THE RESULT OF INCREDIBLE DETAILED RESEARCH BY A
CHINA SCHOLAR WHO WRITES LIKE A NOVELIST- News-Press.
"THIS ARDENT BIOGRAPHY BY CHINA AUTHORITY TERRILL DRAWS ON A
WEALTH OF DOCUMENTED SOURCES AND FIRST-HAND INTERVIEWS WITH
MADAME MAO'S FORMER ASSOCIATES. TERRILL IS AN ENGAGING
WRITER... HE SUCCEEDS IN GIVING THE READER A BRIGHT GLIMPSE OF
JIANG QING'S UNDAUNTED AND UNIQUE SPIRIT." - Booksellers.
"..THIS IS NO DRY SAGA OF REVOLUTIONARY POLITICS. TERRILL REVEALS
A FASCINATING STORY OF PRE-REVOLUTIONARY CHINA AND THE INTRIGUES
OF A NEW REGIME UNDER MAO...IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO LIKE THIS
WOMAN, BUT TERRILL EXPLAINS SOME OF THE DRIVING FORCES BEHIND HER
AND BUILDS A TRULY FASCINATING CHARACTER."
- Sunday Press, Melbourne.
"ROSS TERRILL, A PROMINENT CHINA SCHOLAR WHOSE BOOKS INCLUDE A
BIOGRAPHY OF MAO, GIVES A VIVID PORTRAIT OF THE STRONG-WILLED,
VINDICTIVE WIFE WHO USED HER POSITION TO PERSECUTE HOSTS OF REAL
OR IMAGINED ENEMIES AND SCHEMED TO SUCCEED THE CHAIRMAN AS
CHINA'S RULER.....TERRILL TRACKED DOWN SOME UNUSUAL SOURCES,
INCLUDING FORMER ACQUAINTANCES OF JIANG WHO PROVIDED VIGNETTES OF
HER EARLY LIFE - AN ACHIEVEMENT ALL THE MORE REMARKABLE BECAUSE
OF CHINESE RETICENCE ABOUT THEIR LEADERS' PERSONAL AFFAIRS AND
BACKGROUNDS."
- Cleveland Plain Dealer.
"POWERFUL ...EMINENTLY READABLE STYLE, REPLETE WITH NOTABLE,
INSIGHTFUL OBSERVATIONS...COUPLED HERE ARE AN INTRIGUING AND
DYNAMIC WOMAN OF HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE AND AN ACCOMPLISHED,
KNOWLEDGEABLE BIOGRAPHER."
- Asian Wall Street Journal.
"ITS A CHILLING, DISQUIETING STORY ABOUT A PETTY TYRANT WHO
CONFUSED INDEPENDENCE WITH POWER, GAINING EVER MORE OF THE LATTER
BUT NEVER EXPERIENCING THE FORMER." - The Wichitan.
"..POWERFULLY-WRITTEN, IMMENSELY KNOWLEDGEABLE AND EXTREMELY
READABALE..." - Manchester Evening News.
"IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT DOWN" - Rachel Faggetter on "First Edition,"
Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
" TERRILL'S SOURCES ARE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN OR CLOSE TO THE
EVENTS. HE HAS TALKED TO MANY NAMED AND UNNAMED CHINESE WHO
ENCOUNTERED JIANG QING AT VARIOUS STAGES OF HER LIFE... THE GREAT
DETAIL..[ IS ] SPLENDID TESTIMONY TO THE AUTHOR'S RESEARCH.. HE
IS NOW ESTABLISHED AS THE LEADING POPULAR INTERPRETER OF CHINESE
AFFAIRS..." - Adelaide Advertiser.
"AN ABSORBING BIOGRAPHY ... DR. TERRILL'S STORY IS ESSENTIAL
READING FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE POLITICAL
PROCESS IN CHINA FUNCTIONED IN THE YEARS OF MAO'S RULE."
- The Financial Times (London).
"TERRILL'S BOOK GIVES A REVEALING PICTURE OF LIFE AT THE TOP
" BASED ON A WIDE RANGE OF SOURCES ... TERRILL'S VOLUME IS A VERY
SATISFYING AND ENTERTAINING READ. IT SUCCEEDS IN SUGGESTING THE
CRUCIAL ROLE PLAYED BY PERSONALITIES AND PERSONAL RELATIONS IN
CHINESE POLITICS." - Prof. Emily Honig in Political Science Quarterly.
(of the revised 1992 edition)
“Madame Mao was first published in 1984 and remains the definitive study in any language of the life and times of Jiang Qing.” Prof. Stephen MacKinnon, Journal of Asian Studies.
