The main weakness of this very interesting and well-documented book, is that the author, Dick Wilson, is not a marxist. This assertion is not as dogmatic as it appears, as I believe that for a proper understanding of the nature of the Chinese state today, a thorough grounding in marxist economics, philosophy and ideology is vital. Wilson most nearly approaches what capitalist society says a scientist must be, that is, non-partisan, "objective". [illegible] of viewpoint which gives a [illegible] muddiness to the book. [illegible] proletariat to [illegible] peasants, and again, equates [illegible] and bourgeo[is] [illegible].
Despite these [illegible] with [illegible] giving a reasonably accurate picture of [the] border dispute, although [illegible] misunderstandings [and] manoeuvrings [illegible] going into the [illegible] India had for provoking this incident. He shows that China's suspicion of the West is not due to "xenophobia" on the part of the leadership, but due to the very real bad experiences they have had particularly with Britain. He goes into the questions of national minorities; the exploitative relationship of Russia; the differences among the leadership on such questions as art; and their foreign policy. The one big subject which is omitted is that of the Cultural Revolution, which except for references scattered through [illegible] is not treated as a separated phenomenon. [This] is quite an important omission from the viewpoint of the student of contemporary China who would naturally look to this type of book for an [explanat]ion. The role of the Chinese in breaking wi[th] the hegemony of the Russian leadership and providing a new focus for the international communist movement is not gone into either.
In summary, A Quarter of Mankind is readable, well-researched and informative. But it should [illegible] supplementary [illegible] [perspec]tive on the subject.
A [Quarter] of [Mankind] [illegible] pages, 7[/-].