Oh hi Amy! I'll be in Paris this spring sometime. I'm working on my new magazine now, Fingerpainting on Mars. It's gonna be distributed in Paris too, so once issue 1 is out I'll hop on the train and take some there.

Oh, hey! American libraries need to shelve an English translation. One of my friends is the (retired) director of a public library in a middle-sized Iowa town. Her favorite library sign was "If nothing here offends you, please complain."

It's a French thing ... you get the same crap in Quebec.

As much as I revile Mao and am annoyed by the leftism of French intellectuals, this is unfair.

Here's the review of Mao and Me from Powells.com:

...stands out for its epic sweep and unflinching honesty. Rendered in large panels, his ink and wash paintings document everything from the making of dumplings to the public humiliation of cherished neighbors. The early pages are a testament to the quiet devotion of his grandparents; as Mao's revolution takes hold, Chen's father is sent to the Russian border for reeducation, food becomes scarce, and the family lives surrounded by fear.

And Jung Chang's book has been widely criticized for its errors and exaggerations.

Well, whether or not M&M can be judged by it's cover, books like Le Livre noir du communisme have done brisk sales in the land of Gaul, no?

I just finished reading a biography of Chairman Mao a few months ago. The author glossed over the millions killed in the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward with blithe comments doubting whether Mao knew what was actually happening in his name and how the murders and massacres done in his name matter less than what motivated the man (which, of course, was to make China a paradise).

People do the same whitewash thing with Che Guevera. Humberto Fontova's book is an interesting counterpoint to the t-shirts, movies, and books glorifying him.

Didn't Dohrn and Ayers talk of making the US a paradise and if they had to eliminate 25 million people to do so, it was a justifiable sacrifice for the cause?

People like this don't deserve to be on a t-shirt.

"And Jung Chang's book has been widely criticized for its errors and exaggerations."

Nice use of the passive to avoid saying who is doing the criticizing. Of COURSE someone is bound to criticize anyone daring to criticize the Great Helmsman. Exaggerations? What is there left to exaggerate when it comes to describing Mao Zedong's crimes against humanity?

"It's a French thing ... you get the same crap in Quebec."

Not just the French. The stupid Germans fall for this kind of thing, typically polling as seeing China as more benign that the US. But then they tend to succumb to the temptation to hate the US, and they just love them some dictators......

"It's a French thing ... you get the same crap in Quebec."

Living in Montreal, I am always amazed how things and icons of the far-left got whitewashed and respected here. I wonder how the people would have reacted if the cover said "Hitler et Moi".

Here's a short TV program. Convenient! Accessible!

Jim,

I was referring specifically to France. Perhaps i should have said it's a non-anglo saxon thing ;)

Living in MTL I am also amazed at how left-wing this city is.

People like this don't deserve to be on a t-shirt.

True, that. It is a sure-fire way to quickly recognize someone who is either a dumbass or has a keen sense of irony, though.

I used to have a libertarian co-worker who kept a bust of Mao at his desk purely for the irony.

Yeah, it's ironic when some local kids put a video on YouTube documenting life in a smalltown. Wouldn't you know it, one of the kids is wearing a Che t-shirt and most of the video is of them ordering food from Taco Bell, drinking coffee at Starbucks and playing video games at Circuit City. Ironic or genius?

Another eye-opening book on life under Mao during the Cultural Revolution is To The Storm: The Odyssey of a Revolutionary Chinese Woman. Highly recommended.