Just finished Mao: the unknown story by Jung Chang (the author of Wild Swans) and Jon Halliday, and I recommend it to all those interested in totalitarism or China.
It is a year by year biography of Mao's life based on recent PRC revelations via official documents and biographies, and the archives of Communists across Eastern Europe , interviews with persons close to Mao, and the people of the PRC. It is a frightening, yet fascinating, portrait of evil.
Things I found interesting: as tens of millions of Chinese died during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution (as Mao took crops away from the people to trade for technology and arms from USSR), Westerners were praising the moral superiority of socialism and denying any famine. As well, the CIA was reporting that the PRC had socialism all dialed in and squared away. If you do not weep at the destruction and loss of life that the Chinese Communists caused then you are stronger than I am.
The issue of guns is brought up several times. The first priority of the CCP was to ensure a monolopy on firearms wherever they were. The authors state this without comment but it is a great reminder of why governments are solidly pro-gun control.
It is a long book, 635 pages, so get started now.
