Publisher's Synopsis
This is a dual biography of Mao Zedong and Stalin. By narrating alternately the stories of Mao Zedong's rise during turbulent years of Chinese history and Stalin's rule of Soviet Union, the author has connected many historical dots between the two communist regimes and illustrated more evidently than ever that Stalin's firm hand on Chinese communist party is the prime reason why Mao Zedong emerged as a winner in power struggle within the party. Mao Zedong had suffered a setback in his early days as a communist. He learned his lessons from this glitch and grasped quickly the essence of how to be a Bolshevik. From then on, he aligned his rhetoric, stance and actions with those of Stalinists to present himself as a valuable asset for Soviet Union and hence secured the support from Stalin. This support eventually led to Mao's victory in Chinese civil war and founding of red China. In his later years, Mao parted way with Soviet Union's then leader Khrushchev, but he never parted way with Stalin.
