About This Lesson
This article is a series of excerpts from the chapter about Mao Zedong from the Great Big Book of Horrible Things by Matthew White. The assignment asks students to analyze Mao's perspective, motive, and biases, and then at the end, compare him to Joseph Stalin. The reading details Mao's foreign policy (Korean War, nuclear ambitions, split from Soviet bloc), the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution.
