[2] O. E. Westad of Yale University wrote that the book is "a mainstay of the debate about what brought the Communists to power".
[7] Allan B. Cole of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy described the work as focusing on "really big questions" about the Communist Revolution, "sketches [of] backgrounds and revolutionary periods" and on analyzing similarities and differences with the regime of the Soviet Union; this was in opposition to "a general and fairly thorough treatment of" the course of the history of the country.
[9] It was published in English in 1971,[5] with Muriel Bell as the translator, by Stanford University Press.
[11] John K. Fairbank of Harvard University wrote that the book "brilliantly summarizes this whole subject" and that the work is "vivid and enlightening" due to the author's "mastery of the literature and the data of the historical record.
[5] Harold Z. Schiffrin of Hebrew University wrote that it was "the best single analysis" due to it being "the most comprehensive, critical, and balanced" such work that has appeal for academics of all levels.