The Oxford History of the Twentieth Century

by Howard, Michael; Louis, Wm Roger

• ISBN13: 9780192853707
• ISBN10: 0192853708
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-10-26
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Of all the centuries in recorded history, none has seen more change, none has ended more differently than it began, than the twentieth. In 1900, Queen Victoria still ruled over England, the Imperial Manchu dynasty over China, and the Romanov Tsars over Russia. The cinema was in its infancy, radio and television still to be discovered. The first cars were on the road, but air travel existed only in earthbound imaginations. And now, as Yeats said, all is "changed utterly." In this ambitious book, twenty-four of the most distinguished scholars in the world survey the momentous events and the significant themes of the twentieth century in compact, scholarly essays. The contributors tackle political issues region by region as well as non-political topics in subjects such as physics, modernism in art, international economics, and the impact of new technologies on culture. The authors trace the continuities which have persisted over the past hundred years and analyze the changes which have marked the century's progress. Early chapters take a global overview of the century as a whole, from a variety of perspectives--demographic, scientific, economic, and cultural. Further chapters chart the century's course, continent by continent and region by region, all written by acknowledged experts. Beautifully illustrated with both color and black and white plates, and with a detailed chronology, suggestions for further reading, and a full index, The Oxford History of the Twentieth Century is an invaluable repository of information and insight about the endlessly fascinating century in which we live.

Author Biography

Michael Howard is former Regius Professor of Modern History, University of Oxford. He lives in England. Wm Roger Louis is the Kerr Professor of English History and Culture at the University of Texas at Austin.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Table	ix
List of Contributors	ix
Abbreviations	xviii
Foreword	xix
PART I. THE FRAMEWORK OF THE CENTURY	1	(88)
The Dawn of the Century	3	(7)
Michael Howard
Demography and Urbanization	10	(12)
William H. McNeill
The Great Reduction: Physics in the Twentieth Century	22	(13)
Steven Weinberg
The Expansion of Knowledge	35	(15)
John Maddox
The Growth of a World Economy	50	(13)
Robert Skidelsky
The Growth of a Global Culture	63	(14)
Alan Ryan
The Visual Arts	77	(12)
Norbert Lynton
PART II. THE EUROCENTRIC WORLD, 1900--1945	89	(62)
The European Colonial Empires	91	(12)
WM. Roger Louis
Europe in the Age of the Two World Wars	103	(14)
Michael Howard
The Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, 1900-1945	117	(11)
Richard Stites
The United States, 1900-1945	128	(11)
Hugh Brogan
East Asia and the Emergence of Japan, 1900-1945	139	(12)
Akira Iriye
PART III. THE COLD WAR, 1945--1990	151	(52)
The Confrontation of the Superpowers, 1945-1990	153	(11)
Lawrence Freedman
The United States Since 1945	164	(12)
James Patterson
The Soviet Union and Beyond	176	(14)
Archie Brown
The Remaking of Europe	190	(13)
Anne Deighton
PART IV. THE WIDER WORLD	203	(116)
East Asia	205	(11)
Akira Iriye
China	216	(11)
Jonathan Spence
South-East Asia	227	(13)
Michael Leifer
South Asia	240	(13)
Judith M. Brown
North Africa and the Middle East	253	(11)
Roger Owen
Africa	264	(13)
Terence Ranger
Latin America	277	(15)
Alan Knight
The Old Commonwealth: The First Four Dominions	292	(13)
Peter Lyon
Towards a World Community? The United Nations and International Law	305	(14)
Adam Roberts
PART V. ENVOIT	319	(25)
The Close of the Twentieth Century	321	(13)
WM. Roger Louis
Towards the Twenty-First Century	334	(10)
Ralf Dahrendorf
Further Reading	344	(16)
Chronology	360	(73)
Adolf Wood
W. Travis Hanes III
Index	433