Fractured Rebellion: The Beijing Red Guard Movement

This book is the first full-length account of the evolution of China’s Red Guard Movement in Beijing from its beginnings in 1966 to its forcible suppression in 1968. Walder combines historical narrative with sociological analysis to explore the radical student movement’s crippling factionalism, devastating social impact, and ultimate failure.

Table of Contents:
Contents List of Tables Acknowledgments A Note on Documentation 1. The Beijing Red Guards: An Introduction 2. The Assault on Power Structures: Work Teams in the Universities 3. The Genesis of Division: Sources of Opposition and Conflict 4. Divided at Birth: The University Red Guards 5. Class and Violence: The High-School Red Guards 6. Radicals with Patrons: The Rise of the Rebels 7. Dissent and Its Suppression: Challenging the Maoist Elite 8. Factions Reborn: Networks at Cross-Purposes 9. Endgame: Fighting Not to Lose 10. Hierarchy and Rebellion: Reflections on the Red Guards Glossary of Names Beijing Red Guard Chronology Work-Team Case Histories Notes References Index

About the Author :
Andrew G. Walder is Denise O'Leary and Kent Thiry Professor, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University.

Review :
The book masterfully combines historical case studies with sociological methodology and fundamentally changes our understanding of Red Guard factionalism...The book is without doubt one of the greatest breakthroughs in research on the Cultural Revolution published during the past three decades and should be read by anyone interested in the history of mass movements and modern Chinese history in general. -- Daniel Leese China Quarterly 20100601 Too little research has been conducted about the fascinating, confusing upheavals that shook China during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of 1966-68. Now, four decades after the mass fighting was suppressed, Andrew Walder helps to fill important gaps in our knowledge...Fractured Rebellion: The Beijing Red Guard Movement makes an important contribution to our knowledge of an extraordinary, tumultuous period in recent Chinese history. -- Jonathan Unger China Journal 20100701 While not minimizing either the violence or Mao's responsibility, Walder presents a less stereotyped and more diverse picture of Red Guard attitudes to violence--as far as I know for the first time at this length in Western scholarship. -- John Gittings The China Beat 20100331 Revealing...Walder's book, the first on the Beijing Red Guards, concentrates entirely on the movement in the capital's universities and schools and the conflicts among them, mighty subjects in themselves. -- Jonathan Mirsky New York Review of Books 20101111