Deng edited the first two editions of Mao's Selected Works and, in 1949, became founding editor of the People's Daily , the official organ of the Central Committee. Deng's suicide in early 1966 represented his tragic final protest as the loyal official unjustly accused. 3 Cheek relates this story with empathy and layered complexity, seeing in Deng's life not just the tragedy of personal loss and of a revolution that consumed its own makers but a key to understanding the seismic rift that split the party in the 1960s. An unstable mix of charismatic and routine authority patterns had characterized Maoist orthodoxy from its inception in the 1940s, Cheek argues, but the amalgam became weakened after 1949 as administrative routine supplanted the charismatic authority of the ruler. Like previous emperors, Mao could maintain his authority over the bureaucracy only through dramatic assertions of his personal power, such as the Great Leap Forward, which left 30 million dead.
Cheek provides a compelling and nuanced understanding of both.
The only real weakness of this book is the little that is revealed about Deng as an individual. One hopes that eventually these will be made available to researchers. Until then, this book will remain the most sophisticated attempt to discern the meaning of Deng Tuo's life of intellectual service to the party that eventually destroyed him. 5 Glen Peterson University of British Columbia Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.