Stalin and Mao

The English title refers to Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong while the French title is "La récidive", that is, "recidivist, or “repeat offender,” which refers to the central argument that Mao's seizure of power and revolutionary regime repeats the crimes of Stalin's.

[5] Steven I. Levine of University of Montana wrote that readers, to derive the most benefit, should have familiarity with the respective topics, noting that "This is not a book for beginners.

Igor Iwo Chabrowski, in China Perspectives, argued that the former change was due to Chinese University of Hong Kong trying to find a way to continue publishing works that may be sensitive in its political climate.

[1] CUHK Press also released a translation of the book in Traditional Chinese, as 歷史的覆轍 Iìshǐ de fùzhé meaning history of a path that resulted in failing.

[3] Westad stated that "Bianco’s book is a good summing up of current knowledge" regarding post-1949 China and the Soviet Union that has a highly accurate "big picture right", despite the lack of information from the newest scholarly endeavours.

[8] Marilyn A. Levine of Central Washington University wrote that the author "makes a strong case for his assertions about the growth of authoritarianism".