Blood Red Sunset

<b>A searing first hand account of China's Cultural Revolution that joins the ranks of great memoirs such as<i> Life and Death in Shanghai</i> <i>Wild Swans</i> and <i>A Chinese Odyssey</i></b> <p/>First banned in its native land this earthy unflinching memoir has become one of the biggest bestsellers in the history of China. <p/> In 1968 a fervent young Red Guard joined the army of hotheaded adolescents who trekked to Inner Mongolia to spread the Cultural Revolution. After gaining a reputation as a brutal abuser of the local herd owners and nomads Ma Bo casually criticized a Party Leader. Denounced as an active counterrevolutionary and betrayed by his friends the idealistic youth was brutally beaten and imprisoned. <p/> Charged with passion never doctrinaire <i>Blood Red Sunset</i> is a startlingly vivid and personal narrative that opens a window on the psyche of totalitarian excess that no other work of history can provide. This is a tale of ideology and disillusionment a powerful work of political and literary importance. <p/> A deceptively straightforward story carried forward by deep currents of insight.--<i>The Washington Post</i> <p/> A genuine no-holds-barred unadorned piece of writing...echoing the realities of contemporary China.--Liu Binyan <i>The New York Times Book Review</i>