《毛泽东最后的革命》

The Cultural Revolution was a watershed event in the history of the People's Republic of China, the defining decade of half a century of communist rule. Before 1966, China was a typical communist state, with a command economy and a powerful party able to keep the population under control. But during the Cultural Revolution, in a move unprecedented in any communist country, Mao unleashed the Red Guards against the party. Tens of thousands of officials were humiliated, tortured, and even killed. Order had to be restored by the military, whose methods were often equally brutal.

In a masterly book, Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals explain why Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, and show his Machiavellian role in masterminding it (which Chinese publications conceal). In often horrifying detail, they document the Hobbesian state that ensued. The movement veered out of control and terror paralyzed the country. Power struggles raged among Lin Biao, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Qing—Mao's wife and leader of the Gang of Four—while Mao often played one against the other.

After Mao's death, in reaction to the killing and the chaos, Deng Xiaoping led China into a reform era in which capitalism flourishes and the party has lost its former authority. In its invaluable critical analysis of Chairman Mao and its brilliant portrait of a culture in turmoil, Mao's Last Revolution offers the most authoritative and compelling account to date of this seminal event in the history of China.

编者按：美国时间2019年2月10日，历史学家、哈佛大学费正清研究中心前主任罗德里克·麦克法夸尔（Roderick MacFarquhar）因病逝世，享年88岁。由他参与编著的《剑桥中华人民共和国史》在海内外中国研究界影响广泛。从1974年到1997年，麦克法夸尔先后发表了三卷本的《文化大革命的起源》，加起来达1700页的巨著获得了“亚洲研究学会”1999年度Joseph R. Levenson Prize奖。2006年，麦克法夸尔与另一位当代中国研究学者沈迈克（Michael Schoenhals）合作出版的著作《毛泽东最后的革命》，也受到中西学界的高度评价。

《毛泽东最后的革命》（Mao's Last Revolution）一书简体字中译本2009年由香港星克尔出版公司出版（罗德里克·麦克法夸尔、沈迈克《毛泽东最后的革命》，关心译，唐少杰校，星克尔出版（香港）有限公司，2010年。

通读之后，深感此书细节丰富，叙述生动，考订精细，评论富于洞察力，总体上值得信赖倚重。可以预计，在相当一段时间里，该书将是文革史研究者案头的基本参考书。