World Turned Upside Down

"The only complete history of the Cultural Revolution by an independent scholar based in mainland China, 'The World Turned Upside Down' makes a crucial contribution to understanding the Cultural Revolution and its lasting influence today"-- As a major political event and a crucial turning point in the history of the People's Republic of China, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) marked the zenith as well as the nadir of Mao Zedong's ultra-leftist politics. Reacting in part to the Soviet Union's "revisionism" that he regarded as a threat to the future of socialism, Mao mobilized the masses in a battle against what he called "bourgeois" forces within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This ten-year-long class struggle on a massive scale devastated traditional Chinese culture as well as the nation's economy. Yang makes a crucial contribution to understanding those years' lasting influence today. -- adapted from jacket