# Please recommend a book about The Great Leap Forward

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-book-about-the-great-leap-forward/625835>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 21, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-book-about-the-great-leap-forward/625835 "2012-06-21T13:27:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-book-about-the-great-leap-forward/625835/1 "2012-06-21T13:27:36Z")

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I am curious about this… event and I want to learn more. There are lots of titles on the Wikipedia entry, but I don’t know where to start. Need something kind of accessible, please. Assume I really don’t know much at all about China. 😃

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-book-about-the-great-leap-forward/625835/2 "2012-06-21T14:42:59Z")

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For an interesting first-hand account of life in China during the run-up to the Great Leap Forward, there’s _Escape from Red China_ by Robert Loh.

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**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-book-about-the-great-leap-forward/625835/3 "2012-06-21T16:58:22Z")

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Part of _[Wild Swans](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Swans)_ covers this period.

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**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-book-about-the-great-leap-forward/625835/4 "2012-06-21T17:05:51Z")

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[On China](http://www.amazon.com/On-China-Henry-Kissinger/dp/1594202710) by Henry Kissinger.  
Good book. Read this and you will know a lot about China.

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**Author:** ![QuarkChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c5a1d2/32.png) [@QuarkChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuarkChild)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-book-about-the-great-leap-forward/625835/5 "2012-06-21T17:09:03Z")

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I really enjoyed [“Mao’s War Against Nature.”](http://www.amazon.com/Maos-War-against-Nature-Revolutionary/dp/0521781507)