Article discreditng the thesis that Mao "killed millions of people" in The Great Leap

[kandrathe]

It was an anecdote his parents told him, which led him to research and write a book about it. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the head of political science department at university of Chicago will be careful to get his facts straight in his published work.

"This is a very impressive achievement. What is so good about it is the theoretical and statistical sophistication, the emphasis on regional variation, and the learning it displays, not only with regard to China but in general. It contains much new material of enormous value."

—Thomas P. Bernstein, Columbia University

"On the basis of a wealth of primary and secondary sources, the book provides a vigorous treatment of the origin and consequences of the Great Leap Forward as well as the institutions and processes involved in China's rural reforms. Yang's book is an impressive scholarly addition to our study of contemporary Chinese politics."

—Journal of Asian Studies