Mao: The Real Story by Alexander V. Pantsov & Steven I. Levine Simon and Schuster, 2012, 784 pages, US$35 Reading Pantsov and Levine’s Mao: The Real Story I was transported back to endless China politics seminars at the ANU in the early seventies. Imagine yourself there. It’s the dying days of the Cultural Revolution. China is locked down solid. Nobody here has a clue as to what’s going on. We speculate. And speculate. “I think what Zhou Enlai would have said in this meeting was …” “No! He would have said …” And so on, ad infinitum. Suddenly a somnolent…