Tombstone
The Great Chinese Famine, 1958-1962
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Tombstone
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Narrated by:
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Nancy Wu
About this listen
The much-anticipated definitive account of China's Great Famine
An estimated 36 million Chinese men, women, and children starved to death during China's Great Leap Forward in the late 1950s and early '60s. One of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, the famine is poorly understood, and in China is still euphemistically referred to as "the three years of natural disaster".
As a journalist with privileged access to official and unofficial sources, Yang Jisheng spent 20 years piecing together the events that led to mass nationwide starvation, including the death of his own father. Finding no natural causes, Yang attributes responsibility for the deaths to China's totalitarian system and the refusal of officials at every level to value human life over ideology and self-interest.
Tombstone is a testament to inhumanity and occasional heroism that pits collective memory against the historical amnesia imposed by those in power.
©2008 Yang Jisheng (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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What listeners say about Tombstone
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 10-07-24
Refreshing to listen to a narrator that can actually pronouce Chinese names
The book is highly detailed yet digestible, and essential for anyone interested in the Great Leap Forward and accompanying famine. And it was so refreshing to actually hear Chinese names pronounced properly, unlike most audio books which just throw any narrator in there, regardless of their background with a foreign language.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Pat Gifford
- 06-30-21
A must read if you are interested in evil
I wish Harvard would have translated the book in its entirety. Information on the evils of communism!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Caitlin
- 05-20-24
Terrifying insight into how these kinds of things happen over and over.
Important information for anyone interested in understanding how humans can use good intentions to destroy millions of lives.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- joeverdrive
- 01-06-24
Very Impressive
I am writing this review chiefly to remark how wonderful the narration was. I wish Ms. Wu could read all my nonfiction books.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- ashley shannon
- 04-10-24
really interesting!
don't let the reviews complaining about too many numbers dissuade you, I was totally captivated!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Larry Miller
- 04-09-22
Very detailed and interesting
Not a great book for audio. Lots of statistics. But fascinating nonetheless. Learned a lot.
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1 person found this helpful