Books in Brief: The Center of the World

The Center of the World: Communism and the Mind of China (Revised Edition), by Robert S. Elegant (Funk and Wagnalls, $6.95). If the Chinese don’t understand the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution how can Westerners hope to? Elegant implies that this most significant and most incredible event of our times is not beyond comprehension but, if understanding is to come, some serious homework about China is required. He suggests that the American reaction to the “People’s War” in Vietnam was the proximate cause of the crisis inside China. This crisis—the Cultural Revolution—resulted, he says, when antiMaoists began to question the efficiency of Mao’s foreign policy based on immediate challenge to the “imperialist paper tigers.” The American intervention in Vietnam refuted the Maoist claim that the imperialists could be defeated by “People’s War” and, at the same time, gave some grist to those internal Chinese forces that wanted to bring Mao down. Now, Elegant argues, we should continue our intervention in Vietnam (in order to demonstrate that “People’s War” cannot succeed) but should also recognize Peking (in order to assist in China’s transformation). It is not necessary to support Elegant’s seemingly incompatible conclusions to recognize that he has presented a thoughtful and challenging view of what is really going on inside Mao’s Madhouse. w. d. jacobs