Reviews (6)

A Century of Unprecedented Bloodshed
In both relative and absolute terms, the bodycount of the last century was the highest in recorded history. There were 16 conflicts that left more than a million dead, another 6 that claimed from a half million to a million lives, and 14 more that claimed from a quarter to a half million lives; all told, about 167 to 188 million people lost their lives as a result of armed conflict. Harvard historian Niall Fergusson has written a monumental tour-de-force attempting to answer the question: why?
An ambitious work comes up a bit short
Niall Ferguson's The War of the World has received a fair amount of "buzz."And, indeed, as one reads it, the scholarship, the knowledge of historical nuances, and the command of the sweep of the 20th century are all readily apparent.However, in the end, the book is somewhat unsatisfying.
"The horror, the horror"
Niall Ferguson is a godsend. Having read his biography of the Rothchilds, and being a Jewish reader, I delved into The War of the World expecting a good treatment, but not necessarily that much new about these twentieth century conflicts. As the reader from Jerusalem points out, I feel that Niall gives a sentsitive and harrowing portrayal of the Jewish aspect of the Second World War even while covering the whole scope of both World Wars and beyond with abundant detail. Towards the end of this book I felt myself covering my face and even weeping at the sheer horror of the totalitarian regimes - Niall exposes the sheer brutality of both Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, all the while illustrating all of the other myriad perpetrators of the bloody centuries war as he depicts it, the ordinary citizens across Erurope and Asia, as well as Ally brutality (though he, I think, points out adequately that Alllied brutality mostly had at least a modicum of salubrious intent - that is to simply win the war). Again, I must repeat that Niall really makes the point at the sheer horror of the Nazi genocide against the Jews - the animal barbarity to it - was the culmination of all this violent pull into the modern world. I cannot help but think we, as humanity, have not and will not get past this incident for a long time. I think the years since the Nazi Holocaust, because of the distraction of the Cold War, and current technological post-modernism capitalistic nihilism have masked what still remains an unanswered, unended, scar on all accomplishment and evolution of human culture and civilization. I can also thank Niall for this book, I deeply appreciate its insight, and for pointing out how we still need more answers, more questions, and more education of this period of history. I think this is, perhaps, only the end of the beginning of this search. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Causes    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History: World    6. Military - General    7. Military History - Modern    8. Military Sociology    9. Modern - 20th Century    10. War    11. World - General    12. World politics    13. History / Modern / 20th Century   

Reviews (20)

"Not Even Wrong" for Dummies
I read this book a month or so after finishing "Not Even Wrong" by mathematician Peter Woit.Both volumes deal with the same subject: the failure of string theory to make testable predictions that would allow it to be proven or falsified.Both works are excellent.This one has the advantage of being far more understandable for laypeople. Finally the truth
After years of spirited propaganda by string theorists purporting to have stumbled upon the ultimate theory of nature, we now have a revealing, tell-all tale that throws back the covers on what has turned out to be the most intellectually disengenuous ruse in the history of science - the continual presentation of string theory as the be-all, end-all theory of everything -despite its utter lack of predictive power, its failure to predict dark energy, its myriad of versions, and its reliance on anthropic reasoning. Smolin, along with Peter Woit (who also dared to go against the 'establishment') should be thanked for bringing this house-of-crashing cards to the public's attention. Despite pitiful and below-the-belt attacks and outright dismissal by members of the 'stringy' establishment, including a scathing and unprovoked attack by a theorist from Harvard who sees a threat in works of this nature, Smolin gives us a thoughful and provoking look at the many failures (and occasional mathematical successes) of the most overhyped theory in the history of science.

Great book, but not perfect
This is a superb, five star, technical book. Smolin starts by describing the five, big, unsolved problems of physics. Then proceeds to a wide ranging overview of the last three decades of theoretical and experimental work, assessing how much (if any) progress has been made toward answering the five big problems. String theory from this perspective gets a failing grade. Smolin's writing is always clear and lucid, providing non-physicists with at least a modicum of understanding of complex issues. If you have any interest in modern physics, I urge you to read this book.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. History    3. Methodology    4. Modern - 20th Century    5. Physics    6. Physics (General)    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. String models    10. Science / Physics   

Reviews (4)

They ain't Heavy!
A compelling view of German history told from a personal perspective.A valuable lesson reinforced, for me, was the connection from one generation to the next.Some will read this book and see five Germanys, others will see one universal truth: "Power does not concede, without a demand."
A Unique View of German History
Fritz Stern, emeritus professor of European history at Columbia, has produced quite a distinctive book on German history: it is at once an autobiography as well as an examination of Germany during its five most recent identities: Wilhelmine; Weimar; Third Reich; Divided Germany; and finally unified Germany.This dual focus serves Stern rather well--since he was born in 1926, forced to flee Silesia (now part of Poland) for the United States in 1936, and has had extensive involvement with Germany and things German since at least the early 1950's, his personal perspective and activities are quite valuable. Particularly his discussion of the German Democratic Republic (aka East Germany) is full of insights, as is the book's discussion of the Federal Republic (West Germany) and the reunification process.I found it helpful to have a copy of Stern's "Dreams and Delusions: The Drama of German History", a collection of his essays, handy for reference. At over 500 pages, this is a long book, which has a large cast of characters (such as Haber, Kohl, Schmidt, and a whole slew of academics, diplomats, journalists, and others) about whom Stern offers some perceptive insights.To be sure, Stern on Stern sometimes resembles one of those Christmas letters, but after all it is his life he is recounting.An unusual way to learn a good deal about Germany from one who has sought over the last 50 years or so to explain it to the rest of us.

The historian as celebrity
Occasionally an historian becomes famous -- usually posthumously.There are Thucydides, Herodotus, Edward Gibbon, a couple of American historians ending recently perhaps with Arthur Schlesinger.But for the most part historians are archival and campus moles who influence people in small and indirect ways.Here a Columbia historian, Fritz Stern, because of his trans-atlantic life, his brilliant insight into the mind and heart of the Germans who forced his emigration in the Third Reich, his ability to connect sympathetically with many people of influence and enlightenment --here is a man who is an historian and truly an intellectual celebrity.He has lived through a flight from the Nazis, campus upheaval over the Vietnam War, the reunification of a Germany unable to define itself or its history, and the probable end of American hegemony in the world.He has taken all this in and written about it with brilliance and insight.He is the model of an historian of European and world history on the American scene.
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Subjects:  1. 1926-    2. 20th century    3. Europe - Germany    4. Germany    5. Germany - History    6. Historians    7. History    8. History - General History    9. History: World    10. Modern - 20th Century    11. Stern, Fritz Richard,    12. History / Germany   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Case studies    3. England    4. Europe - Great Britain - General    5. Great Britain    6. Great Britain - History    7. History    8. History - General History    9. History: World    10. Investigation    11. London    12. Murder    13. Murder - General    14. Murderers    15. United States - 20th Century    16. History / Modern / 20th Century   

Reviews (47)

a genuine journey of discovery
This is a fascinating book, a well told tale, and a genuine journey of discovery. Stewart combines a physically demanding expedition with cultural exploration and, in the process, achieves genuine insight into lives most of us will never have the faintest conception of. Some reviews of the book (e.g. Washington Post) miss the critical element of the journey that sets it apart from books that are entirely expeditionary in nature (like mountains climbed and rivers rafted) - and that is the Muslim cultural proclivity to welcome / shelter / feed travelers no matter how desperately poor they may be (and most in rural Afghanistan are very poor indeed).A critical talent that allowed Stewart to achieve this (besides his keen wit and prodigous writing skills) is his linguistic diversity, which allowed him to do what he did without getting killed or dying in the process. When the British Special Forces declare him a f'g nutter I found myself smiling along with Stewart at his formidable achievement.

A little shy of cultural insights
I would actually give this book a 3.5, but that's not an option.I think I was expecting a broader range of cultural insights from this book.The first half got a bit tedious and sometimes read more like an itinerary than an elucidating journal.The second half perked up for me; I admit this could be because the actual terrain improved and people themselves were more colorful and friendly.In the end, I did take away something from this book and do have a better idea of what Afghanistan's mountain region is about.I passed the book on to a friend this weekend as a suggested read.But the fact that I did this is a testament to my reaction to the book, for I never give away books that I love.Perhaps one day I'll come to regret it!And I can say, I don't regret having read this book.

Five-star rating for Stewart's experience; three stars for his writing of it
Try as I might, I couldn't quite enjoy "The Places In Between," Rory Stewart's travelogue from his walk across post-Taliban Afghanistan.Stewart is an amazing young man, brilliant and courageous, and his trek is an ambitious, noble effort.But his writing was so dispassionate, so resolutely matter-of-fact, that I quickly stopped caring.
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Subjects:  1. Afghanistan    2. Asia - Central    3. Description And Travel    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. History    6. History: World    7. Middle East - General    8. Middle East - History - 20th Century    9. Modern - 20th Century    10. Social life and customs    11. Stewart, Rory    12. Travel    13. Travel - General    14. Travel / Middle East / General   

Reviews (85)

A Hard Adventure
A Hard Adventure
Unbelievable!
Can you imagine an overweight, past-his-prime ex-president with lingering injuries today disappearing into an unexplored part of the world for many months, with mostly useless provisions, without any communication with the outside world, while the world wonders if he is dead or alive?The first part of the journey is a trek through a barren wasteland, with pack animals dying all around you.The second part is down a river that no has ever traversed.What is around the next bend?A village of Indians who have never seen a white person, who would rather pump you full of poison arrows than befriend you?A series of impassable rapids, only to be followed by more rapids?
Millard finds a hidden gem of a story and tells it wonderfully.
Reading this book makes you wonder how many great stories from the past we never get to hear because someone like Candice Millard doesn't find them and tell them.As you read this wonderful book, you realize how easy it would have been for this amazing adventure tale featuring one of the premier figures in US history to just slip unknown into the past.Fortunately for all of us, Millard found this story, polished it up and presented it to us for our enjoyment.
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Subjects:  1. 20th Century World History    2. Amazon River Valley    3. Biography    4. Discovery And Exploration (General)    5. Expeditions & Discoveries    6. History    7. History - General History    8. History: World    9. Latin America - South America    10. Modern - 20th Century    11. Natural history    12. Presidents    13. Presidents & Heads of State    14. Rain forests    15. United States    16. United States - 20th Century    17. History / General   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. General    3. History    4. Inventions    5. Modern - 20th Century    6. Popular Culture - General    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Technological forecasting    10. Technology    11. Popular science    12. Science / General   

Editorial Review

World War II may have ended in 1945, but according to historian Tony Judt, the conflict's epilogue lasted for nearly the rest of the century. Calling 1945-1989 "an interim age," Judt examines what happened on each side of the Iron Curtain, with the West nervously inching forward while the East endured the "peace of the prison yard" until the fall of Communism in 1989 signaled their chance to progress. Though he proposes no grand, overarching theory of the postwar period, Judt's massive work covers the broad strokes as well as the fine details of the years 1945 to 2005. No one book (even at nearly a thousand pages) could fully encompass this complex period, but Read more

Reviews (34)

Turns a bright light on a dimly lit corner of recent history.
Postwar is truly a huge achievement.While it is a long book, it is actually short given how much ground Judt covers and how effectively he covers it.the book starts with a great synopsis of some under-stated facts and thoughts about the impact that WWII had on Europe as a whole and on its constituent parts.This book is worth reading for that synopsis alone.
worthy, not perfect
I have just finished Mr.Judt's tome on modern Europe. I am a little embarrassed to admit that it took me several months. I enjoyed learning the information; the book is certainly filled with detail. It is not by any means an easy read or a "page turner, " however. Although I agree with some other reviewers that the US' role is deemphasized a bit, overall I felt the author was fairly objective. In contrast to a reviewer's comment that the French will love this book, I would argue that the author reveals the French during this periodas deeply flawed. Certainly the Soviet leadershipproperly receives a great deal of blame, as do many of the citizenry throughout Europe.I agree that the book's strength lies in the breadth of the information, which at first seems overwhelming but is kept semi-manageable. Mr. Judt is less successful in neatly synthesizing all the info, but I personally think that that is primarily a realistic function of the subject matter. I did find the epilogue discussing specifically the treatment of jews a little jarring in its placement.
What is the future of Europe?
"Postwar - A history of Europe since 1945" by Tony Judt is the best book I have read on the subject.Its perspective on events since 1989 up to 2005 is remarkably good.
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Subjects:  1. 1945-    2. Europe    3. Europe - General    4. Europe - History    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: World    8. Post World War II History    9. History / Europe / General   

Editorial Review

Daniel Yergin's first prize-winning book, Shattered Peace, was a history of the Cold War. Afterwards the young academic star joined the energy project of the Harvard Business School and wrote the best-seller Energy Future. Following on from there, Read more

Reviews (109)

Should be assigned as a text
This is a thoroughly engrossing, still-relevant treatment of the history of oil and its effect on history.Many of the events recounted are familiar from high school and college history courses, but in the typical linear-timeline of such studies, the interconnectedness of oil toward other major historical events is often lost.This book puts all that in perspective, neatly tieing other technological and political events across 150 years to the rise of oil and its use in the internal combustion engine.I strongly agree with an earlier comment on this book, "if you don't know the history of oil, you don't know history."
Very Comprehensive
This book will help understand the current geopolitical landscape and the "great" democracies intervention in the middle east.

Here we go again!
(Hey, this review is supposed to be 5 stars! What's up with the editing?)
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Causes    3. Government - International    4. History    5. History: American    6. Industries - Energy Industries    7. Industries - General    8. International Relations - General    9. Military aspects    10. Modern - 20th Century    11. Petroleum    12. Petroleum Industries (Economic Aspects)    13. Petroleum industry and trade    14. Political Science    15. Political aspects    16. Politics / Current Events    17. Politics/International Relations    18. World War, 1914-1918    19. History / General    20. International economics    21. Petroleum & oil industries    22. Social history    23. USA   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Budapest    3. Eastern Europe - General    4. Exiles    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: World    8. Hungary    9. Jews    10. Jews, Hungarian    11. Modern - 20th Century    12. United States    13. History / General   

Editorial Review

The thesis of this provocative and potentially important book is the increasing threat of violence arising from renewed conflicts between countries and cultures that base their traditions on religious faith and dogma. This argument moves past the notion of ethnicity to examine the growing influence of a handful of major cultures--Western, Eastern Orthodox, Latin American, Islamic, Japanese, Chinese, Hindu, and African--in current struggles across the globe. Samuel P. Huntington, a political scientist at Harvard University and foreign policy aide to President Clinton, argues that policymakers should be mindful of this development when they interfere in other nations' affairs. ... Read more

Reviews (223)

8 Civilizations Or Political Groups?
There aren't really 8 civilizations. The Western European, Eastern European and Latin Americans are all from different branches of a same Judeo-Christian civilization despite their political differences. Japanese is obviously a branch of the Confucian civilization despite their huge economic success. The African world is really split between the Islamic and Judeo-Christian civilizations. So we only have the Judeo-Christian, Confucian, Islamic and Indian civilizations.

A prelude ......
This book is one of the introductory 'literature' preceding and preparing for the principal and more important actions a small bit of which we are witnessing nowadays.
Magnum Opus
This is the eminent Professor Huntinton's magnum opus, and it deserves to be read. No one can profess an understanding of modern global politics without studying this masterful work which was written in 1996.It remains a treasury of prophetic insights for our present day.
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Subjects:  1. 1950-    2. 1989-    3. Civilization, Modern    4. International Relations - General    5. Modern - 20th Century    6. Politics / Current Events    7. Politics/International Relations    8. Post-communism    9. World politics    10. History    11. Political Science / International Relations   

Reviews (32)

The perfect concise history of the Cold War
This book is a masterpiece of what Gaddis once termed "lumping," or the search for overall themes and trends in history.The only negative thing that could possibly be said is that The Cold War is not an in-depth look at a conflict full of details to explore.But those who are reading this book for such an account are missing the point entirely.Gaddis explicitly set out to write a short, thematic, but still informative book on his area of expertise, and he has done so without fault.
Thumbs up for The Cold War
A very concise view of the developments that lead up to and through the Cold War.It is a book designed for those of us interested in the period without a need for the depth that academics or professional historians would need.

Excellent thematic overview of the Cold War -- does not pretend to be a comprehensive history
When reading a work of history, one should always read the author's preface.With luck, the author has done more than merely thank the dozens of vital souls who helped make the book possible but do not share in the royalties.The author will tell you the purpose behind the book's writing -- "this is the book I wanted to write."
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Subjects:  1. 1945-1989    2. 20th Century World History    3. Cold War    4. Europe - Russia & the Former Soviet Union    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: World    8. International Relations (Specific Aspects)    9. Modern - 20th Century    10. Modern - 20th Century/Nuclear Age    11. United States - 20th Century (1945 to 2000)    12. World politics    13. History / Russia (pre- & post-Soviet Union)   

Reviews (128)

Good research, disjointed storytelling
This book covers a lot of ground and Barry has done some great research.What Barry does not do is maintain a consistently engaging narrative. As others have noted, the book could have used some judicious editing.It probably could have lost 100 pages in my view.
Four Books in One But Everyone Should Know This
There are essentially four separate threads in this book:
A Story that Needs to be Told
A Story that Needs to be Told
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. History    3. History: American    4. Infectious Diseases    5. Influenza Epidemic, 1918-1919    6. Medical / Nursing    7. Medicine    8. Modern - 20th Century    9. U.S. History - Early 20th Century    10. United States    11. United States - 20th Century    12. History / Modern / 20th Century    13. Medical   

Editorial Review

On December 31, 1999, after nearly a century of rule, the United States officially ceded ownership of the Panama Canal to the nation of Panama. That nation did not exist when, in the mid-19th century, Europeans first began to explore the possibilities of creating a link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the narrow but mountainous isthmus; Panama was then a remote and overlooked part of Colombia.Read more

Reviews (92)

A Thorough History
This book is a very thorough history of the French and US efforts to construct the canal. I had no idea of the extent of the French efforts, nor of the extensive efforts made by the French to promote financing of the project.The sanitation and logistical infrastructure that ultimately had to be put in place for the US effort to succed was mind-boggling.Overall, I enjoyed the book, however the level of detail was at times a bit much.

A U.S. Triumph in a Different Era
I grew up hearingstories from my grandmother about living and working in the Canal Zone during construction. She and her 2 sisters were nurses.Her brother and her father, also worked on the canal. My dad, uncle and aunt were born in the Zone. I came to this book with a lot of interest due tofamily involvement.
Great background on a world altering historical event
Most people have limited education in the building of the Panama Canal.The sum total of my knowledge, prior to reading this book, was that Theodore Roosevelt fostered a revolution in the Columbian state of Panama in order to complete the work abandoned by the French.That disease and pestilence was rife in the region and that American technology and know how carried the day.Mostly correct, but woefully simplistic.
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Subjects:  1. History    2. History - General History    3. History: World    4. Latin America - Central America    5. Modern - 20th Century    6. Panama Canal    7. Panama Canal (Panama)    8. United States - 20th Century (1900-1945)    9. History / Modern / 20th Century    10. Panama    11. Science: General Issues    12. Technology: General Issues   

Editorial Review

Veteran reporter and