text: Becker succeeds in establishing the famine as one of the worst atrocities of all time ( Richard Bernstein , the New York Times ) . He does this despite the Chinese government 's continued effort to cover up the incident , and by way of interviews with survivors [ that ] provide us with a chilling view of the famine as it was experienced by ordinary villagers ( Paul Pickowicz , the Wall Street Journal ) .
  
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  Ordinary villagers were willing to give interviews about the effects of the famine .