Look, a monkey!

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m easily distracted. Is it product of watching too much afternoon TV as a kid? Maybe.

I’m in the middle of reading The Corpse Walker: Real-Life Stories, China From The Bottom Up. It’s a series of 27 oral histories of people from the lowest rungs of Chinese society, mostly relating to their lives during and after the cultural revolution. The stories they tell are gruesome, cruel, hopeful and completely mesmerizing.

Since each chapter is a single interview, the book is perfectly designed for my short attention span. However, my interest is now piqued. I want to find out more about the Chinese Communist Revolution, the Great Leap Forward, and Great Chinese Famine.

How is this supposed to help me research the Zapotec civilization and modern-day Oaxaca?