A History of the World in the Twentieth Century: Enlarged Edition

By J.A.S. Grenville

Book Overview

In this enlargement of his outstanding history of the world, Grenville stresses the history of nation-states within a world of interdependence and regional groupings. The twentieth century remains an epoch of revolutionary change. Clashes of culture, the impact of technology, the consequences of industrialization all play out within national borders that are also porous. In this latest enlarged edition, Grenville has updated the history through 1999 and added new material on the demise of Yugoslavia, with its wars and ethnic cleansing; Clinton's policies in Haiti, Somalia, and Asia; his economic policy; Eastern Europe's new democracies; and the progress of Third World countries. Democracy and the market economy are portrayed as the linchpins of a new century.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674002741
• ISBN13: 9780674002746
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Belknap Press
• Length: 1024 Pages
• Weight: 3.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 7.6" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Non Parochial, Evolving 'Flat World' History

"Follows a relatively new trend among historians to abandon their sometimes narrow parochialism in favor of 'world history' his volume deals with more thematic issues like industrialization, the empowerment of women, the rise of environmental concerns and multinational corporations." Foreign Affairs Century of Radical Changes: The twentieth century witnessed radical changes in almost every area of human activity. It was a century that started with steam-powered ships and ended with the space shuttle. Accelerating scientific progress and perception, a revolution of effective communications, and air travel and transport, electronic transmission and retrieval of information promoted by the microcomputer, that rendered the world flat. The automobiles and telephone changed the face of Western society and the World. The twentieth century also gave rise to humanity's exploration of the outer space, with the first footsteps on the moon, in the year 1969. Arguably more technological advances occurred in any of the decades following World War I than the sum total of new technological development in any previous century. The twentieth century witnessed a remarkable shift in the way that majority of people lived, as a result of the impact of technological progress, and medical technology advancement. Social and economic change were greatly influenced by new ideological issues, and political concepts . Even new terms as world war, nuclear war, Holocaust, genocide, and ethnic cleansing entered common usage and reflected on the everyday lives of people from Europe to Africa. War reached an unprecedented scale and sophistication, due basically to massive advances in weapons of mass destruction. The Second World War causalities alone, approximately 57 million people died, mainly. The trends of mechanization of goods and automation of services and networks of global communication, which began late nineteenth century, continued at an accelerated pace. Virtually every aspect of life changed in fundamental ways during the twentieth century and for the first time, individuals and societies could influence the course of history, no matter what their background was. The theoretical implications of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory led to the development of special relativity by Albert Einstein in 1905. Scientific discoveries such as quantum physics and the theory of relativity radically expanded the conceptual vision of scientists, and thinkers convincing them to realize that the universe was much more complex than ever imagined, the breakthrough in molecular biology, electronic communication, and universe's exploration has demonstrated that the 'last few details of scientific knowledge' were still far from being achieved, but renewed. Geopolitical World Events: In Europe, during the twentieth century, changes began in a dramatic way. The British Empire achieved the height of its power. European powers competed with each other for land, military strength and econ