Review of Mao's Little Red Book: A Global History by Alexander C. Cook

Few pieces of literature have both the ubiquity and longevity of Chairman Mao Zedong's Quotations of Chairman Mao, or more famously, the Little Red Book. While initially designed by the People's Liberation Army Dailyto inspire PLA soldiers in service, Mao's Quotations evolved far beyond its diminutive form to become a medium through which the Chinese revolution could spread outside of China's borders. A selection of his most resonant quotes and precepts, it has been translated into more than sixty languages, and has influenced radically-minded intellectuals and workers in locales ranging from Phnom Penh to Dar es Salaam, Manila to Lima, and Delhi to Paris. Yet despite its global spread, scholars have thus far neglected to shed significantlight on the Little Red Book as a vehicle for the global spread of Maoism. It is for this reason that Mao's Little Red Book: A Global History, which is edited by Alexander C. Cook, Professor ofHistory at the University of California, Berkeley, is such a welcome addition to the field of twentieth-century world history, and to the study of ideas across cultures.