One World Divisible: A Global History Since 1945 (Global Century Series) Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

One World Divisible: A Global History Since 1945 (Global Century Series) Book

"Writing a global history of the second half of this century is, of course, an impossible task." You've got to give Cambridge fellow David Reynolds credit for such frankness, but it certainly didn't stop him from setting out to accomplish the impossible. Thankfully, Reynolds succeeds brilliantly, as becomes quickly clear from this marvelous, unbelievably readable 860-page survey, roughly bookended by the Berlin blockade and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The project is impossible, "of course," thanks to the subject's staggering size and complexity, but Reynolds takes this in stride, admits his limitations, and digs into a robust, good-spirited, and even-handed analysis, intimidating as a whole but approachable and engaging in its parts. One World Divisible does tackle it all--the political, social, and cultural changes of an era that witnessed ever-increasing unity, interconnectedness, and globalization. All the usual suspects--the cold war, the decolonization of Africa and Asia, the rebirth of post-war Germany and Japan--get predictably thorough treatment, but Reynolds also takes on the "feminist earthquake" of women's lib and the pill, examines how advances in electronics and genetics far outweighed the impact of exploiting the atom, and even tracks the global spread of "Coca-colonization" and rock & roll. Through it all, Reynolds's readable voice and thoughtful organization keep you reading; discrete, intuitive chapters such as "Israel, Oil, and Islam," "Color, Creed, and Coups," and "Chips and Genes" give you just enough to chew on along the way. A fine beginning to W.W. Norton's ambitious Global Century series. --Paul HughesRead More

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  • Product Description

    This masterful history of the world in our time captures the ground-level drama of events and the larger contours of change in a period of global transformation. Global change has accelerated at an unprecedented pace in the last half-century, affecting every aspect of daily life, public and private, throughout the world. The trajectory of change points in different directions, with the world growing at once more connected and more fragmented. Commerce and migrations, television and the World Wide Web, suggest a story of growing interconnection. The proliferation of nation-states; the divisions rooted in religion, race, and material inequality; tell one of separation and conflict. David Reynolds's brilliant history captures both themes and grounds them vividly in the people and events of the past fifty years. Kennedy and Khrushchev, Mao and Mobutu, Rachel Carson, Indira Gandhi, and Elvis all come to life in his pages. Reynolds writes with authority on politics and war, on cars, chips, and genes. His narrative is truly global in scope. One World Divisible is a volume in the Global Century series, books by outstanding scholars on the history of the world in the twentieth century. The general editor of the Global Century series is Paul Kennedy, author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers.

  • 0393048217
  • 9780393048216
  • D Reynolds
  • 9 February 2000
  • W. W. Norton & Co.
  • Hardcover (Book)
  • 861
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