a new edition with a new forward by the author. wild swans tells thegripping story of how three generations of women in her family fared inthe political maelstrom of china during the 20th century. changs grandmotherwas a warlords concubine. her mother struggled with hardships in the earlydays of maos revolution and rose to a prominent position in the communistparty before being denounced during the cultural revolution. chang herselfmarched for mao until doubt crept in over the excesses of his policiesand purges. born just a few decades apart, their lives overlap with theend of the warlords regime and overthrow of the japanese occupation, thecommunists to carve up china, and, most poignant for the author, the viciouscycle of purges orchestrated by chairman mao that discredited and crushedmillions of people, including her parents.