A heartbreaking, revelatory evocation of “the decade that cleaved modern China in two.”
The former China correspondent for the Guardian explores the “cumulative forgetting” of the devastations of the Cultural Revolution.
London-based journalist Branigan, who lived in China from 2008 until recently, delivers a series of poignant, engaging stories that reveal the deep scars left by the Cultural Revolution, which radiated violently across the country from “Red August” 1966 to 1976. Across a beautifully rendered text, the author astutely examines the Maoist ideology that drove the tumultuous class struggle and destruction, leading to the deaths “of as many as 2 million for their supposed political sins and another 36 million hounded.” Prompted to explore the history more deeply after viewing artist Xu Weixin’s exhibit of huge portraits in Beijing of those who “had played a part in this madness, as victim or perpetrator; often both,” Branigan digs into numerous vivid personal tales. Many were teenagers at the time, and some were children of the political elite; they responded to Mao’s direct appeal to “be martial” by becoming zealous devotees of the Red Guard. They inflicted violence on their teachers and denounced their parents, all in the name of destroying the “Four Olds”—old ideas, old culture, old customs, old habits. Many of the perpetrators, including current leader Xi Jinping, would later be disgraced themselves, sent to reeducation camps in rural communities for years afterward. Only Mao’s death and the ousting of the Gang of Four would end the mayhem. Throughout this sensitive, well-researched narrative, Branigan delicately delves into these shattered lives. Many of her subjects are still searching for justice or recognition, while others remain nostalgic for their patriotic youth. The author notes that while the hysteria and fanaticism of the time “forged modern China,” the events are rarely discussed today—even as the trauma continues to resonate deeply.
A heartbreaking, revelatory evocation of “the decade that cleaved modern China in two.”Pub Date: May 9, 2023
ISBN: 9781324051954
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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