I always perk up my ears when someone I respect enthusiastically recommends a book. In a blog post that deals with the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Jay Nordling wrote: (my bolding)
Ten years ago, I wrote a piece about an amazing woman named Youqin Wang, who dedicated her life to memorializing the Cultural Revolution. If you’d like to read it, go here. Also, I reviewed a book called Gang of One: Memoirs of a Red Guard. That was in 2004. (For the review — which comes after two others, in a single piece — go here.) The author is a man named Fan Shen. Frankly, his memoirs are among the best I’ve ever read.
I feel like I know a secret — like I know about a masterpiece, hidden from the world. "Gang of One" is the kind of book that might be read hundreds of years from now. Really. Odd to say, but I feel it true. The publisher is a humble one, the University of Nebraska Press. As far as I’m concerned, they are in possession of a literary, and human, diamond.
I'm making a note of this recommendation.