A remarkably clear window into another time and place. This is a collection of primary sources related to the so-called Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Many of the documents are from the government. Many others are from the people themselves. There are selections from both the students (Red Guards) who carried out so much of the ground work of the Revolution and from their targets (party persons in power who are taking the Capitalist road). Particularly powerful are Document 20, the transcript of the “struggle” against Wang Guangmei, and Document 64, a brief anonymous autobiography. Since it’s all primary sources there is very little in the way of commentary. That’s just fine since the documents speak well enough for themselves. They are well-arranged and the translations are very readable. The whole progress of the Cultural Revolution unfolds quite clearly. It was not a dinner party, it was an act of violence. Just as Mao proclaimed.
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