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Title: Twentieth Century: The History of the World, 1901 to 2000 by J. M. Roberts ISBN: 0-14-029656-5 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 05 December, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.31 (13 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: A Good Look at the Late 19th Century
Comment: My favorite part of this book was the early part, where Roberts paints a picture of the 19th century and how it influenced the direction of the 20th century. As for his look at the 20th century, I believe he spends too little time on any one topic to shed much light on anything. I found his coverage of the past 20 years (my adult life) to be especially wanting. My recommendation would be to seek out history books with less ambitious scope.
Rating: 1
Summary: zero emotion
Comment: (yawn) I love to sink my teeth into big history books but this one's so flat. I tried several times to pick this one up but it seemed very monotone to me. It was like reading a text book. Perhaps it was all just above me, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you were a hardcore "facts" person.
Rating: 4
Summary: Pretty good for a big book
Comment: Robert's latest epic is a largely Euro-centric review of world events during the twentieth century. Overall it is enjoyable, comprehensive and easy to get through. It is deliberately Euro-centric since the century began with Europe as the central power and ended with Europe closing ranks to form an important political and economic zone that is probably larger than the sum of its individual parts.
Much of the book deals with Europe's influence on the world - either as a colonial power expanding its empires or as an impoverished post-war debtor disposing off its overseas assets. The only other nations which receive half-decent coverage are the United States, Russia, Japan and China.
I think the strength of Robert's book is his enviable grasp of the big picture. The scope of this work is beyond the vast majority of popular writers. I think the best individual sections are those covering the years and events leading up to WW1 and those which deal with Japan prior to WW2. Very few generalist readers will be fully up to speed on the effects of Japan's defeat of imperial Russia in 1906 and the long-term implications of its invasion of Post-Revolutionary China. Roberts does a fine job on both counts.
The book's weakness are three fold. One, this is almost entirely a social and political history. Economics gets little attention, even though it has played a central role in world affairs since 1900. Just imagine writing a history which says little on international monetary crises, the Great Depression, oil crises and the staggering improvement in global living standards since 1900. Roberts does cover these areas, but they read almost like add-ons. Two, his coverage of the Middle East is rather perfunctory. Details of France and Britain's departure are terse and the reasons for the Ottoman collapse are a bit hazy. So too are the influences of the UN and the US in post colonial times. Third, his style of writing comes from my father's era. Some of his sentences seem to go on for ever, although this is more of an editing issue than a criticism of the author.
Overall though, Roberts has put together a fine book on the past 100 years. The disappointments are more than made up for in its analysis of Europe - which is truly first class. Four Stars.
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Title: The Penguin History of the World by J. M. Roberts ISBN: 0140154957 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: August, 1995 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The New History of the World by J. M. Roberts ISBN: 0195219279 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
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Title: The Oxford History of the Twentieth Century by Michael Howard, Wm Roger Louis, William Roger Louis ISBN: 0192853708 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: August, 2000 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
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Title: On the Origins of War : And the Preservation of Peace by Donald Kagan ISBN: 0385423756 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 January, 1996 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: The Penguin History of the United States of America by Hugh Brogan ISBN: 014025255X Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 30 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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