Maoísmo

Although the West has been underestimating its influence for decades, Maoism is one of the most significant and complex political forces in the modern world. In the current People's Republic of China, after the apparent abandonment of the confused utopia of the Maoist revolution for an authoritarian capitalism, the ideology of Mao Zedong is still very present. Given the current relationship between the Asian giant and the West, understanding the history of global Maoism and how it spread around the world is key to understanding contemporary challenges. A decisive engine in the Vietnam War, the talisman of the anti-colonialist resistance in Africa, sometimes the germ of terrorism in Germany and Italy and of the guerrillas in Peru, India and Nepal, the power and appeal of the Maoist movement went beyond the borders of China and it aroused extraordinary fervor in wide geographic areas. In this fundamental work, Julia Lovell connects the evolution of China with its global legacy, and transports us from the tea plantations of northern India to the mountain ranges of the Andes, the fifth arrondissement of Paris, the fields of Tanzania, the rice fields Cambodia or the streets of Brixton. The global history of Maoism, often misunderstood, is relegated to second place in the history books. In this wonderful book, winner of the prestigious Cundill Prize for History, Lovell lifts Mao and his ideas from the shadows and re-positions Maoism as one of the fundamental movements of the 20th and 21st centuries.