Product Description

In 1900 Queen Victoria still ruled over the British Empire, the imperial Manchu dynasty over China, and the Romanov Tsars over Russia. The cinema was in its infancy, with radio and television still to be developed. The earliest cars were on the road, but air travel was yet to come. Before antibiotics and effective vaccines against many common diseases, death rates were high. Over the course of the twentieth century, the human population of the world tripled, space travel left the realms of science fiction and became reality, two cataclysmic world wars and a host of other conflicts were fought, the internal combustion engine replaced the horse as the basic means of transport, and computer technology revolutionized communications. In this ambitious book, some of the most distinguished historians in the world survey the momentous events and the significant themes of recent times, with a look forward to what the future might bring.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #246989 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

About the Author
Sir Michael Howard CBE is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at both Oxford and Yale University. His many books include The Causes of War, War in European History, The Lessons of History, The Invention of Peace, War and the Liberal Conscience, The Franco-Prussian War (Duff Cooper Memorial Prize), Studies in War and Peace (Wolfson History Prize), and, most recently, The First World War.

Customer Reviews

Good introduction for anyone!
I remember that history was one of my least interested and weakest subjects when I was in junior secondary school. It's not until recently that I started to realize I should know more about what's going on in the world. And I bought this book.

This 450-page book consists of 27 chapters, grouped in 5 parts, namely The Framework of the Century, The Eurocentric World 1900-1945, The Cold War 1945-1900, The Wider World, and finally Envoi.

Part 1 is an overall review of the century from different points of views, science, technology, economy, politics, culture and art. This gives you a very brief yet concise idea of what the century is like, what happened, and what were eventually the consequences.

Part 2, a very exciting part, tells about the politic and military situations in the two world wars.

Part 3 is on the post-war period after the second World War. This tells you about the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and its influences.

Part 4 is dedicated to the development of areas other than Europe and the U.S. If you are interested in the history of a specific area other than those dominant countries in the century, or if you would like to look wider than just those countries, this part surely gives you what you want.

And finally Part 5 concludes the 20th century and looks forward to the 21st century.

This book did a very good job in trying to gather different opinions. The 27 chapters were actually written by 26 leading professionals, including Nobel prize winner Steven Weinberg. As each chapter is dedicated to one particular interest, you can easily jump to where you are interested - if that's what you prefer.

In conclusion, this book is a very good choice for anyone, even idiots and dummies, who want to widen their world view and know more about the 20th century, a remarkable century in human history that makes today's world the way it is.