This is a must-read book to the study of China's modern history from 1949-1976, covering the Cultural Revolution, the Great Leap Forward, and the Golden Age of Industrialization. It presents the context for the following 30 years of reforms in China, as well as President Xi's latest series of reforms. The historical incidents covered in this series are the ones which continue to influence the ideological and policy developments of China today and they will shape its future. Professor Hu Angang, prominent Tsinghua University economics professor and the leading "New Leftist" academic, offers his compelling insights into these decades of chaos and political turbulence in China.