Mao's great famine
by Frank Dikötter · first published 2010
10mentions
5recommended by
10HN commenters
2010–2025first – last mentioned
50% recommend50% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Archival, detailed account of the 1958-1962 famine under Mao, covering how policy and local officials produced mass death; recommended for readers wanting a grounded history of China rather than a general overview.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
xxiii, 420 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : 20 cm
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Exactly. Also worth studying Mao's Great Famine. Great podcast on this released yesterday: http://www.econtalk.org/frank-dikotter-on-maos-great-famine
on “China announces 25% tariffs on $16B worth US goods” ↗Read some of Anne Applebaum's stuff: https://www.anneapplebaum.com/ In particular Red Famine: https://www.anneapplebaum.com/book/red-famine-stalins-war-on... Also read Mao's Great famine: https://www.amazon.com/Maos-Great-Famine-Devastating-Catastr... "Everytime" as the OP says is too strong. But we have often learned that things were bad beyond belief, as in the Holodomor and The Great…
on “What’s North Korea like?” ↗I agree: read books about China. Books like "Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962" by Frank Dikotter, and "The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression" by Courtois et. al. These are books you are unlikely…
on “An update on YC China” ↗…Stalin of Asia. Also China was abused by the west prior to that, though mostly Europe so there is probably no love lost there. I would recommend Frank Dikötter books on China, The Tragedy of Liberation, Mao's Great Famine, and The Cultural Revolution.
on “America's National Security Wonderland” ↗You can commit atrocious evil without reaping rewards. It is extremely doubtful that Mao contributed any good. Read any book like Mao’s Great Famine or any other book detailing Maos life and exploits. He was a psychopath who refused to admit he did anything wrong. He was also an ephebophile, sleeping with girls as young as 14. Did that contribute…
on “Killing Sparrows Led to Great Famines in China” ↗…different in both instances. Of course such number games are both cynical and insufficient to deal with the subject (e.g. your point 2). I'm surprised the article doesn't mention Dikötter's 2010 work Mao's Great Famine, seems like a very similar book with very similar conclusions.
on “Yang Jisheng: The man who discovered 36 million dead” ↗…Masterpiece.By Eric Siblin History Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. By Timothy Snyder Why the West RulesâFor Now: The Patterns of History and What They Reveal About the Future. By Ian Morris Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962. By Frank Dikotter Red Plenty: Industry! Progress! Abundance! Inside the Fifties' Soviet Dream. By Francis Spufford A World on Fire: An…
on “Economist books of the year (science and technology picks)” ↗From your own Wikipedia link: >Frank Dikötter, Chair Professor of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong and the author of Mao's Great Famine, estimated that at least 45 million people died from starvation, overwork and state violence during the Great Leap Forward, claiming his findings to be based on access to recently opened local and provincial…
on “Trump says he will ban TikTok through executive action” ↗I’ve read “Mao’s Great Famine” by Frank Dikötter, but it’s been a while. Wikipedia [1] captures every contributing cause, but I’d emphasise the illusion of superabundance, which was essentially local government exaggerating the size…
on “The demise and potential revival of the American chestnut” ↗…our learning processes are somewhat a support vector machine, I try to reinforce the ideas that originally drastically changed my internal model. It's not always books and media either. I listened to Mao's Great Famine [1] over several days - and it's harrowing. I like to revisit foods that remind me of childhood (flashes of memory from being younger than 2), like orange & mango juice, and strawberry & banana smoothie.…
on “Rereading books” ↗