Zhou Enlai: Chen Jian's book on Chinese Premier a study in contradictions

This is one of the most informative pieces of history writing on contemporary China and will remain a reference work for a long time to come

Zhou Enlai: A Life

Author: Chen Jian

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Price: $39.95   

Pages: 840

A flawed genius or a sycophantic “enabler” for a deranged despot? The jury is still out as one turns the last page of Chen Jian’s monumental biography of the late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. The book is the life story of one of China’s most well-known and much-admired political leaders but intimately intertwined with it is an engrossing chronicle of China’s turbulent history in the 20th century. More than that, the book is also a portrayal of China’s top leader, Mao Zedong, as both a visionary