Frank Dikotter

In The Tragedy of Liberation, Frank Dikötter delves deep into the seismic social and political upheaval that followed Mao Zedong's rise to power in 1949, when he hoisted the red flag over Beijing’s Forbidden City. Rather than liberating the country, the communist revolutionaries dismantled the old order and established a repressive system that infiltrated every aspect of Chinese life. This...

Dictators by Frank Dikötter is a compelling exploration into the lives and regimes of some of the world's most infamous totalitarian leaders. In this meticulously researched work, Dikötter delves into the intricate mechanics of how these dictators maintained their iron grip on power through a blend of fear, propaganda, and the creation of personality cults. The narrative uncovers the techniques...

Mao's Great Famine by Frank Dikötter is a harrowing chronicle of one of the most tragic periods in human history. During the years from 1958 to 1962, China's pursuit of rapid industrialisation and agricultural collectivisation under Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward resulted in an unimaginable humanitarian disaster. This ambitious policy aimed to transform China into a global superpower within a...

Acclaimed by the Daily Mail as 'definitive and harrowing', this is the final volume of ‘The People’s Trilogy', begun by the Samuel Johnson prize-winning Mao's Great Famine. The Cultural Revolution by Frank Dikötter meticulously examines one of the most turbulent and destructive periods in modern Chinese history. Taking place between 1966 and 1976, the Cultural Revolution was an attempt by...

A revolutionary book Sunday TimesA pulsating account — Peter Frankopan A SPECTATOR AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR How did the People’s Republic of China transform from a backwater economy in the 1970s into the world superpower of today? Drawing on hundreds of previously unseen archival documents, award-winning historian Frank Dikötter recasts our understanding of an era that both...

From renowned, prize-winning historian Frank Dikötter – ‘the historian of China’ (Spectator) – a commanding new history of China’s path to Communism, brought to the people at the barrel of a gun. The history of modern China has long been portrayed as a tale of Communists fighting in the hills for freedom, gradually gaining popular support by taking land from...

_______________A SPECTATOR AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR‘A revolutionary book’ Sunday Times‘A pulsating account that makes clear how important it is to look beneath the surface when it comes to any period or region in history – but above all to China’ Peter Frankopan, TLS'Essential reading for anyone who wants to know what has shaped today's China and what...

A FINANCIAL TIMES HIGHLIGHT FOR 2026 'The most important reappraisal of modern China to appear in years' PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk Roads and The Earth Transformed From renowned, prize-winning historian Frank Dikötter – ‘the historian of China’ (Spectator) – comes a commanding new history of China’s path to Communism, brought to the people at the barrel of a...