In the late 1950’s and early 60’s, China suffered a prolonged and terrible famine. The human toll was higher than from any other famine in modern times — and in all likelihood, greater than from any previous famine in human history. While a precise count of the victims will never be possible, Western analyses of official Chinese census figures subsequently indicated that as many as 30 million Chinese perished from ”excess mortality” between 1959 and 1961. Even today, the sheer magnitude of that catastrophe seems almost incomprehensible: it would be as if the entire population of California had been swept off the face of the earth. Unlike so many earlier … Continue reading Nicholas Eberstadt