Book Review: China’s Economic Revolution
Author: Alexander Eckstein
Date: 1977
Publisher: Cambridge
ISBN: 0-521-29189-5
Length: 340 pages including notes and index
Quote: “If China’s far-reaching experiment were to succeed, it would indeed be a historic contribution ot the process of modern economic growth.”
My late husband’s degree was in economics. He had collected hundreds of books on economics, history, and foreign relations. After selling several and giving away many, he still left me about 300 books he considered to have souvenir or historic value. China’s Economic Revolution had souvenir value for him; it was the last book Eckstein finished and proofread before his death.
To what extent has China’s economic experiment succeeded? To what extent had Mao allowed it to be accurately understood? How much can be learned from what an American was able to gain by reading updates that might have been falsified, no matter how carefully the scholar (Eckstein) had studied what English-speaking Chinese scholars had last been free to report in 1946? (This book is based on the work, and dedicated to the memory, of Tachung Liu, who published books in 1946 and 1965.) None of this can be said to invalidate China’s Economic Revolution, which was carefully written and critically reviewed, but it does emphasize the need to study more recent material if you want more than historical value from this book.
It’s not a popular book, but it’s clearly enough written that I was able to read it. I don’t feel qualified to criticize it, but will mention the 34 pages of statistics and 12 pages of endnotes.
China’s Economic Revolution is recommended to serious students of economics and/or history who can place it in its historical context.
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