Deng · A Political Biography

Deng: A Political Biography is a comprehensive exposition of the life of Deng Xiaoping, the preeminent leader of late twentieth-century China, from his birth in 1904 to his death earlier this year. Written by an insider, this study is notable for the great detail it provides on elite-level Chinese Communist Party politics and Deng's changing relations with his party colleagues in the jockeying for power that constitutes an important aspect of CCP politics. Benjamin Yang has a masterful grasp of this dimension of Chinese politics, and his narrative leaves no doubt that Deng was a politician first and foremost. This fascinating biography combines intimate details -- and in many cases the author sets the record straight about facts that other biographers of Deng have gotten wrong -- and the sweep of history that encompasses the epic struggles of twentieth-century China. Presented here is important political and personal information that will be invaluable to students of Chinese history as well as the opportunity to read the story of an extraordinary man whose imprint on China's social, political, and economic development, especially over the last twenty years, is indelible.