Items related to Deng: A Political Biography
Synopsis
This book is a study of Third World economic development and the factors which have made development so elusive. It discusses the policy reform necessary to spur development as well as the relationship between development theory and policy. The author argues that the key to successful development policy is through reduced state intervention, and that to the extent state intervention is necessary, it should be through rather than against the market mechanism.
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About the Author
Kempe Ronald Hope, Sr. (United Nations, Ontario, Canada) (Author)
From the Back Cover
Deng: A Political Biography is the story of an extraordinary man whose imprint on late twentieth-century China's social, political, and economic development is indelible. Written by an insider, this study is notable for the great detail it provides on elite-level Chinese Communist Party politics and Deng Xiaoping's changing relations with his party colleagues in the jockeying for power that constitutes an important aspect of CCP politics. Benjamin Yang has a masterful grasp of this dimension of Chinese politics, and his narrative leaves no doubt that Deng was a politician first and foremost. This fascinating biography combines intimate details and the sweep of history encompassing the epic struggles of twentieth-century China. Students of China, scholars as well as general readers, will find this book indispensable.
Reviews
In this academic but vivid biography, Chinese scholar and Harvard research fellow Yang profiles Deng Xiaoping (1904-1995) as a shrewd, resourceful politician who came to power through his constant sharp appraisal of Mao's state of mind. Filled with ever-deepening contempt for Mao's benighted policies, Deng turned millions of landless peasants into landowners; yet, as China's absolute ruler, he lacked the hands-on control to follow through on his economic modernizations, in Yang's estimate. The author, a schoolmate of Deng's two sons at Beijing University and a Red Guard comrade of one of them during the Cultural Revolution, evinces restrained admiration for Deng's reformist drive, though he doesn't let us forget the sins and shortcomings of a dictator who, 32 years before the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, launched a massive purge that sent close to a million "rightists"--liberals, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, pro-democracy leaders--to labor camps and death. Besides offering a rare behind-the-scenes look at the Communist Party's internecine power struggles, this biography, written with a Chinese brand of playful irony, is peppered with dramatic personal glimpses, as when Deng's common-law wife Ah Jin denounced him before a 1933 party congress and declared that she was "cutting off relations" with him.
Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Deng Xiaoping entered the inner circle of the Chinese Communist elite by ingratiating himself with Mao Zedong. After he became China's paramount leader in 1978, Deng jettisoned Mao's legacy and surfed the waves of post-Mao reform. Yang's richly detailed biography portrays him as a pure political animal drawn to the scent of power but without any firm political compass other than expediency. Yet, according to the author, his positive accomplishments outweighed his mistakes. Yang (The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist Party, M.E. Sharpe, 1995) brings an insider's knowledge of Chinese communism to his account, which is strong on elite politics but weak on the larger context of China. He offers few synthesizing judgments and little analysis. Most China scholars acknowledge the difficulty of deciphering Chinese politics. Yang fancies himself unique in his superior understanding of Deng and smugly criticizes other biographers, although he himself is not infallible. For academic and larger public libraries.?Steven I. Levine, Boulder Run Research, Hillsborough, N.C.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Deng : A Political Biography
Seller: RPL Library Store, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. GOOD / NO DUST JACKET as Issued. [20] 332 pp. Former library book. Text is clean and unmarked except for usual library treatments. Maroon cloth boards with yellow text. Minor water damage on portion of foredge. Very minor shelf wear. Binding is firm. Seller Inventory # 040161