China in Our Time: The Epic Saga of the People's Republic from the Communist Victory to Tiananmen Square and Beyond

Terrill, resident associate at Harvard's East Asian Research Center and author of Mao , knows China as well as any Westerner and demonstrates his expertise in this richly informative account of the period between the Communist liberation in 1949 and the Tiananmen massacre 40 years later. A keen observer of people, places, trends and contradictions, Terrill is particularly good at describing the appalling conformity of Chinese society and the swift correction that befalls those who deviate. His report of the Cultural Revolution, when Mao ``whipped the nation into a bloody frenzy,'' offers fresh details, but it is his account of the 1989 uprising and crackdown that is most impressive: Terrill mingled with the crowd in Tiananmen Square, and here conveys the personality, character and hopes of a citizenry whose anti-government passions were aroused by the student movement for democracy. True liberation, Terrill concludes, remains but a dream in China. Photos. First serial to World Monitor; author tour. (June)