Episode
Sarah Paine — How Mao conquered China (lecture & interview)
Dwarkesh Podcast · Jan 30, 2025 · 1 h 48 min
Third and final episode in the Paine trilogy! Chinese history is full of warlords constantly challenging the capital. How could Mao not only stay in power for decades, but not even face any insurgency? And how did Mao go from military genius to peacetime disaster - the patriotic hero who inflicted history’s worst human catastrophe on China? How can someone shrewd enough to win a civil war…