The Private Life of Chairman Mao

“The most revealing book ever published on Mao, perhaps on any dictator in history.”—Professor Andrew J. Nathan, Columbia University“From now one no one will be able to pretend to understand Chairman Mao’s place in history without reference to this revealing account.”—Professor Lucian Pye, Massachusetts Institute of Technology“Dr. Li does for Mao what the physician Lord Moran’s memoir did for Winston Churchill—turns him into a human being. Here is Mao unveiled: eccentric, demanding, suspicious, unregretful, lascivious, and unfailingly fascinating. Our view of Mao will never be the same again.”—Ross Terrill, author of China in Our Time“An extraordinarily intimate portrait of Mao. [Dr. Li] portrays [Mao’s imperial court] as a place of boundless decadence, licentiousness, selfishness, relentless toadying and cutthroat political intrigue.”—Richard Bernstein, The New York Times“One of the most provocative books on Mao to appear since the publication of Edgar Snow’s Red Star Over China.”—Paul G. Pickowicz, The Wall Street Journal

Born in Beijing in 1919, Dr. Li Zhi-Sui descended from a long line of eminent doctors. He recieved an MD from the West China Union University Medical School in 1945 and was appointed Mao Zedong’s personal physician in 1954, a position he held until the Chairman’s death in 1976. After emigrating to the United States, he published a critical biography of Mao based on his experiences. He died on February 14, 1995, shortly after its publication.