The Two Maos

An interview with Sidney Rittenberg, an American who lived in China for 35 of its most turbulent years, starting in 1944, and knew Chairman Mao Zedong. Mao was two people, he says, the one before power and the one after. Among the other interesting things he recounts about the man is that he wanted to maintain good relations with the United States. Perhaps, Rittenberg says, if we had played to that wish, we could have avoided the Korean and Vietnam wars: http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/12/the-american-who-gave-his-life-to-chairman-mao/282647/