Bring history back with November's book of the month

What happens when authoritarianism rises up in a society? When reality can become totally distorted, and when millions of people follow the ever-changing whims of the Great Leader without question?

I’m not talking about America today, but China 50 years ago. Say hello to November’s book of the month, Red Memory: The Afterlives of China’s Cultural Revolution by Tania Branigan.

At the exact same time as the West was wrestling with the explosive rise of pop and counterculture, from the Swinging Sixties and the Summer of Love to anti-war protests and social unrest, China was gripped by an entirely different kind of upheaval.

The intense period of fanatical Maoism from 1966-1976 turned neighbors and families against each other, created a kind of 1984-style social order… and laid the foundation for China as the superpower we know today.

First released in 2023, Branigan’s book pieces together interviews with people who made it through—often doing things they can barely speak about, or witnessing moments they can never forget. Through these conversations and compilations, she paints a full and frank picture of what it really meant to go through such a wild and complicated time in history.

When it came out, Red Memory was shortlisted for the prestigious Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction, named as a Kirkus Reviews best non-fiction book of the year, and chosen to be one of Time’s 100 must-read books of 2023.

I had a more personal reason for picking it up: Tania is a former colleague of mine from my time at the Guardian. I was even lucky enough to visit her briefly in China while working on an investigative story a lifetime ago while she was the newspaper’s Beijing correspondent. It was a strange, overwhelming experience and perhaps I’ll talk about it in a future newsletter.

But even without that personal connection I found Red Memory to be an astonishing read: personal, gripping, and utterly eye-opening. It taught me so many things about the Cultural Revolution, about China, and it turned my idea of this time period inside out.

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Copies of Red Memory are on their way to paying club members as we speak, with a special bonus freebie from one of our previous authors tucked in!

In the meantime, if you’re not already a member of Curious Reading Club then this is a great time to join—or to give somebody a membership as a gift. 

The holidays are coming up, and for just $25 each month you can get them a hand-picked piece of non-fiction that will expand their minds and bring them untold amounts of success*. We have monthly, six month, and annual subscriptions available—and if you want to save the first installment for a special date, then just email me at [email protected] to let me know and I’ll make it happen.