wild swans - jung chang

a new edition with a new forward by the author. wild swans tells the

gripping story of how three generations of women in her family fared in

the political maelstrom of china during the 20th century. changs grandmother

was a warlords concubine. her mother struggled with hardships in the early

days of maos revolution and rose to a prominent position in the communist

party before being denounced during the cultural revolution. chang herself

marched for mao until doubt crept in over the excesses of his policies

and purges. born just a few decades apart, their lives overlap with the

end of the warlords regime and overthrow of the japanese occupation, the

communists to carve up china, and, most poignant for the author, the vicious

cycle of purges orchestrated by chairman mao that discredited and crushed

millions of people, including her parents.