In Their Own Words

Wu Han, Historian: Son of China's Times spotlights the life of key Chinese intellectual Wu Han, well known in China as a major 20th-century historian and democratic political figure. World attention was drawn to Wu in the mid-1960s as the first of Mao Zedong's targets in the Cultural Revolution. This biography, published in 2008, locates Wu in the rapid changes in the social and political environment of his time, from the early years of the 20th century until his death in prison in 1969. With Wu Han's life as the focus, the narrative deals with the momentous changes in Chinese society and government during the past century. The full life biography is based on extensive interviewing in China and penetrates a great deal deeper than the conventional conception of the shift from nationalist to communist regimes in the People's Republic of China.