Growing up in revolutionary China, Sheldon (Xicheng) Lou was among the millions forced to adopt the goals of Mao's new society. His captivating memoir, written against the backdrop of the early decades of the People's Republic, offers a rare and personal look at China's dream of a Communist paradise—from Mao's preposterous campaign to rid the country of sparrows to the communes and backyard steel-making of the Great Leap Forward to the madness of the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath.