上世紀五、六十年代之交，在中國大陸發生了一場歷史上罕見的大饑荒，從1958年至1962年期間，據不完全統計，中國餓死了三千六百萬人，因飢餓使得出生率降低，少出生人數估計為四千萬上下，餓死人數加上飢餓而少出生人數共計七千多萬人，這不僅是中國歷史上所發生的災荒中死亡人數最多的一次巨災，也是人類當代史中最為慘痛的空前大悲劇。
究竟這是一場天災還是由「人禍」所造成的大災荒呢？官方對此或含糊其詞，或有意掩蓋，竭力淡化這一歷史事實。然而，劉少奇當年曾對毛澤東說過：「餓死這麼多人，歷史上要寫上你我的，人相食，要上書的。」可是，時至今日，在中國內地仍未能見到有一本紀錄這一場大災難的信史問世。
本書作者從事新聞工作數十年，他窮數年之功，跑遍了當年災難最嚴重的十幾個省份，親自查閱無數公開或秘藏的檔案與記錄，訪問當事人，反覆查證，以史筆之心與新聞記者的良知，數易其稿，真實地再現了這段慘絕人寰的人間痛史，並以大量的事實和數據，條分縷析造成這場大饑饉的主因並非天災，而是在氣候正常的年景，在一個沒有戰爭、沒有瘟疫的和平發展年代裏所發生的慘劇，作者還深刻地指出，這個中國當代史上的大饑荒的成因及結果，也間接引發了另一場浩劫 ── 文化大革命。
本書篇幅宏大，材料豐富，許多史料乃為首次披露，內容震撼，觸目驚心，有令人不忍卒讀之概。現在還活?的五十多歲以上的中國人對這場大饑荒應還記憶猶新，這是一本承載了許許多多老百姓的集體記憶之書，亦是為那三千六百多萬受難者所立下的紀念「墓碑」之墓誌銘。
As the 1950s turned to the 1960s, a massive famine the likes of which are rarely seen throughout history swept over the Chinese mainland. Incomplete statistics estimate that between 1958 and 1962 in China, 36 million people starved to death, and 40 million fewer births occurred due to the reduced birthrate caused by famine for a grand total more than 70 million deaths and fewer births. This marks not only the most catastrophic famine with the highest death toll in Chinese history, but also the most grievous unprecedented tragedy in the contemporary history of mankind.
Is this a natural disaster or a famine caused by "manmade" disaster? Officials have been vague about this or intentionally concealed it in an effort to downplay the historical facts. Yet Liu Shaoqi once said to Chairman Mao, "So many people have starved to death, you and I should be written into history. It should be written about that people are eating each other." However, there has yet to be a truthful history documenting this great catastrophe in mainland China.
The author of this book has worked in journalism for decades and spent years working dutifully on this book. Through traveling to more than 10 of the provinces hit hardest by the disaster, personally consulting countless public and secret archives and records, conducting interviews, and repeatedly fact-checking, this tragic human history has been reproduced with the heart of the historical pen and the conscience of a journalist. Drawing from a great quantity of facts and figures, the main cause of the famine was not natural disaster but rather a tragedy that took place under normal climate conditions, a peaceful time of development with no war or disease. As the author profoundly points out, the causes and outcomes of the great famine in Chinese history also indirectly set off another great tragedy-- the Cultural Revolution.
This book is large and its material is rich, revealing for the first time many historical materials. Its content is shocking and difficult to read, and there are still Chinese people in their fifties who have vivid memories of the great famine. This is a book that carries the collective memory of many people. It is also an epitaph on this tombstone erected for the more than 36 million victims of famine.