This study of the Cultural Revolution suffers from a tendency toward psychological reductionism-not only are the Red Guards suffering from "role confusion" and other unsavory aspects of adolescent psychology, but Mao desires "an ideological superego that will keep the compromising bureaucratic ego in line." The author hopes for a future "revolution" in which "conflict is regulated by explicit rules, predictable behavior and continuity," a hope not likely, he grants, to be satisfied.