Mao Zedong fundamentally transformed China from a Confucian society characterized by hierarchy and harmony into a socialist state guided by communist ideologies of class struggle and radicalization. It was a transformation made possible largely by Mao's rhetorical ability to attract, persuade, and mobilize millions of Chinese people. Xing Lu's book, Rhetoric of Mao Zedong, analyzes Mao's speeches and writings over a span of sixty years, tracing the sources and evolution of Mao's discourse, analyzing his skills as a rhetor and mythmaker, and assessing his symbolic power and...