This is arguably the best one-volume biography on Mao.
Revised in 2017, Philip Short has written a very readable book backed up by tremendous research. The endnotes are extensive.
It’s a pity Short didn’t give us an idea of the sources combed by him or his helpers. We don’t even have a bibliography.
From the endnotes, I can see many references to the weekly reports in the North China Herald (” NCH) published in Shanghai, the most influential foreign newspaper of its time. NCH has subsequently renamed the North China Daily News when it became a daily newspaper.
At 819 pages this is a hefty tome. But for a lifelike Mao, any slimmer book will not do him justice. Highly recommended.