Bombard the Headquarters! The Cultural Revolution in China

"One of my favourite discoveries of the last few years is Old Street Publishing, a London-based publisher which comes out with some excellent and extremely short nonfiction books on subjects that often appeal to me. In the last few months, they’ve started a new series based on important events, and kicked off with two books. One was a book on the Cultural Revolution, which, in an age of a rising China, is important to understand for the dark shadow it casts over the present. To grossly oversimplify, Mao Zedong, feeling his leadership under threat after making some terrible mistakes, encouraged attacks on other Chinese Communist Party leaders. The populist movement he unleashed tore China to pieces from 1966-1976 and left hundreds of thousands—possibly millions—of people dead. It’s a well-known story, but what’s so good about Bombard the Headquarters! is that it’s by Linda Jaivin, an Australian Sinologist who really knows China. The book takes about three hours to read and even has good photos."