A lucid analysis of Mao as revolutionary general, ideologist and astute political manipulator, this introduction to the life and career of Mao Zedong provides an excellent introduction to modern Chinese history and its enigmatic protagonist.

Mao is a crisply written and very interesting appraisal of one of the most controversial shapers of the modern world.

Shaun Breslin explores the career of Mao Zedung (1892-1976) from a number of angles, as revolutionary general, as founder and leader of the world's largest nation for almost thirty convulsive years, as ideologist, as astute and often brutal political manipulator and ultimately as a victim of his own obsession with power.

There are two stories here, how Mao established a communist party state in Mainland China and what he accomplished as its leader.

As a title in the Profiles in Power Series, this is not a biography, though inevitably it contains much biographical material, it instead analyzes the major features, achievements and failures of Mao's career.