Product Description

The second half of the twentieth century was dominated by the unfolding drama of the Cold War, from the Berlin blockade to the fall of the Berlin Wall. A booming global economy has had its sinister shadow in the apparently insoluble crises that havebeset much of the Third World. Above all, peace in the West has been offset by wars of unbelievable murderousness elsewhere. Reynolds' account is both an overview of the trends underlying this spectacular and awful variety, and an insight into the lives led in its midst.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115882 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 896 pages

About the Author
David Reynolds is Fellow of Christ's College Cambridge. His previous books include The CREATION OF THE ANGLO-AMERICAN ALLIANCE and RICH RELATIONS: THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION OF BRITAIN.

Customer Reviews

A brilliant look at recent history....
The whole idea of this book is to go through the last 60 years from the conclusion of the second world war to the recent bombing of Serbia by NATO to show how our world has changed.
With in depth analyis of politics,economics and science it gives the reader the knowledge that the last 60 years has been a rollar coaster ride for the world at large and lays the foundation of the problems that we see in our world today and give better understanding of them.
A highly recommended book if you want a better understanding of the history of Todays headlines...

a global history
What the other descriptions don't mention is that not only cold-war topics are included here. As the title implies, African former colonies, Asian tigers, and other parts of our global history are explained as well. The author also includes a few chapters on social changes that can't be assigned to certain regions.

From reading this book I've gained a better understanding of how current events in the news came to be. Highly recommendable.

Brilliant
To cover the history of the world over the past 55 years and put all the countless events and developments into context is to put it mildly a hugely ambitious task. This work succeeds brilliantly. It may seem to many readers of history that such a book could only hope to be broadbrush. But somehow this is not true. Apart from being an extertaining and often witty read, the wealth of detail is marshalled in a such a superb manner that this almost reads like an unputdownable thriller. The proper global perspective is reached by the degree of concentration on the less developed world. The numerous pieces on China and latin america are fine examples. Even if you think that you are pretty well read on modern history, this book contains enough revelations and wonderfully succint analysis to entertain and inform. I know that this is a gushing review, but I cannot recommend this book highly enough.