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Review title: Mao Zedong
Product review: Jonathan Spence's MAO feels like it's one of his three hour lectures on Chinese history. It's so incredibly even that it's bland. Spence presents each detail of Mao's life with the same monotnous detail (or lack of) that you can't seem to seperate what's big and what's not. It's as if the author doesn't have an identity, he takes an incredibly unstable life and packages it with a very matter-of-fact attitude. When the events of Mao's life reach a peak, the writing doesn't.It's emotionless, but not boring. It's a quick read, and it may very well peak an interest, but how slight or large is probably a measure of the style you feel most comfortable with. The PENGUIN LIVES series is like an extended Strathern 90 Minutes course: they're too short and pretty for you to avoid for long, and I suppose it's probably good to prescribe to the philosophy that it was worth reading if you learned something.
