The victors (largely) wrote the history of the American Civil War. Who wrote the history of the Cultural Revolution?  The official verdict on the CR was written by the Party. The CCP proclaimed the CR "the most severe setback [resulting in] the heaviest losses suffered by the Party, the state, and the people since the founding of the People's Republic."  Not the verdict of winners. Personal histories have been written by surviving victims and, to a lesser extent, perpetrators. Survivors. The survivors, both victims and perpetrators, winners and losers, sometimes in the same body, wrote the history of the Cultural Revolution. I'll be damned.