Preview
  • On Practice and Contradiction: Slavoj Zizek Presents Mao

  • Revolutions
  • By: Mao Zedong, Slavoj Žižek
  • Narrated by: Matt Bates
  • Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (85 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

On Practice and Contradiction: Slavoj Zizek Presents Mao

By: Mao Zedong, Slavoj Žižek
Narrated by: Matt Bates
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.17

Buy for $19.17

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

These early philosophical writings underpinned the Chinese revolutions and their clarion calls to insurrection remain some of the most stirring of all time. Drawing on a dizzying array of references from contemporary culture and politics, Zizek's firecracker commentary reaches unsettling conclusions about the place of Mao's thought in the revolutionary canon.

©2007 Verso (editorial matter), Slavoj Zizek (P)2011 Audible Ltd
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about On Practice and Contradiction: Slavoj Zizek Presents Mao

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    48
  • 4 Stars
    17
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    48
  • 4 Stars
    17
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    42
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Still rings true

Mao’s writings are incredibly easy to understand and can easily translate to today’s times. Read this and criticize it, as mao would want.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating Historical Documents

My five stars are for the editors, not Mao. The Revolutions Series is one of the best things Audible has offered. No matter what your political perspective, it is both pathetic and dangerous that Americans know so little about Marxist theory and practice. Or worse, think they know what they don???t. Marxism was one of the most influential lines of thought throughout the 20th century. It shaped the politics of half the globe, and continues to be a viable critique of the modern world. (After the trillion-dollar smash-and-grab job of 2008, isn???t it at least fair to say that the jury is still out on the Triumph of Capitalism?) If you want the Mao that charmed colleges students in the 70s, skip to the last chapters for poetically digressive essays on everything from dialectics, Chinese philosophy, and the errors of Stalin to the likelihood of horses evolving hands. If you prefer to despise the Mao of the great famines and the cultural revolution, you???ll find plenty of ominously vainglorious twaddle. It is so revealing now to listen to the elevated air of scientific certainty that once pervaded communist ideology. And to recall the violent political conflicts that gave monstrous birth to nominally Marxist governments. (The Trotsky book in the series is even more brutally revealing.) Even as many of these erudite works were being written, preventable famines raged and millions were being swallowed by history. As always, Zizek is amusing and provocative. His introductory essay characterizes Mao as Marxism???s ???Lord of Misrule,??? who betrays Marxism by his failure to grasp Hegel???s and Engel???s ???negation of the negation,??? which presumably leaves him mired in plain old negation. Or not. As Heidegger used to say, ???the nothing nothings.??? And so didn???t Mao, asserts Zizek. Even if you are not an avid dialectician, you may find this a fascinating document from the mists of the 20th century.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Cbateman

This is a great intro to Mao. For the unanointed, you will likely be very surprised by the lucid, yet nuanced writings on a matters from religion, to class, to science and yes, communism.

Mao’s devotion to the Chinese people is evident in his famously steadfast approach to the constant refinement of thought and deed in the People’s Republic of China.

Worth listening to and reading over and over.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great intro by Slavoj Zizek. Great book.

Slavoj Zizek per usual delivers a thought provoking and unique introduction to mao which does not shy away from critiquing his many political and philosophical errors and does not retread the same trite anticommunist talking points which dominate western discourse surrounding Mao. I found Mao writing clear and understandable. His explanation of dialectics while at times overly simplistic is refreshingly grounded in real world examples and historical struggles unlike Hegel. I found Mao philosophy surprisingly nuanced and complex. I think Mao is a must read for anyone seeking to understand socialism or Marxist dialects

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Introduction

I was expecting a more extensive critique of Maoist thought and practice from Zizek. His commentary was restricted to an introduction.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!