Changes

|title=The Death of Mao: The Tangshan Earthquake and the Birth of the New China

|sort=Death of Mao: The Tangshan Earthquake and the Birth of the New China

|borrow=Yes

|isbn=9780571243990

|pages=288

|publisher=Faber and Faber

|date=January 2012

|summary=A strange mix of politics, and the story of a horrendous tragedy, but one with the authority to show how they should always be considered together.

}}

So I certainly can't critique this as a Sinophile, or in any way as a reader of Asian history. I can also only refer to a proof copy, without bibliography, so I can't discern accurately how much is standard text and common knowledge, and how much down to Palmer's own (extensive-seeming) interviews. What I can vouch for is the humanity of the details regarding the earthquake, however much they might at times jar with the minutiae of the politics. And beyond the gaps in my knowledge I can quantify the readability of this study as of a very high quality.

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