A short history of the twentieth century
Lukacs, John, 1924-2013
Book
A concise history of the twentieth century that includes themes which are inseparable from the author's own intellectual preoccupations: the fading of liberalism, the rise of populism and nationalism, the achievements and dangers of technology, the continuing democratization of the globe, and the limitations of knowledge.
Main title:
A short history of the twentieth century / John Lukacs.
Author:
Imprint:
Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2013.
Collation:
230 pages
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Machine generated contents note: 1."God Writes Straight with Crooked Lines" -- "Century" -- An American century -- The German potentiality -- Hitler's primary role -- 1989 or 1945? -- The American superpower presence -- Stalin and the retreat of Russian power -- The end of colonialism -- Recovery and rise of China -- The end of the Modern or European Age -- From liberal democracy to the universality of popular sovereignty -- 2."Now We Have Only Peoples' Wars" -- A European War -- 1914: A short war? -- But entire nations rushing at each other -- Still a war between states -- Mediocrity of most generals -- Russia withdraws from the war -- Communism: a seventy-year episode in the more than one thousand years of Russian history -- The complicated history of America's entry into the First World War -- 3."National Self-Determination" -- A "new Europe"? Yes and no -- The end of four great empires? Yes and no -- Peace treaties and their grave faults -- Consequences in Asia --Contents note continued: "Central Europe" the crux, again -- 4."Cossacks! Brethren!" -- Communists -- The nature of their fears -- The situation of the Jews -- 5.No Nostalgia for the "World of Yesterday" -- Uniqueness of the United States -- Its influence different from that of other great powers -- Its prosperity in the 1920s -- The 1920s: the first (and perhaps the only) "modern" decade -- "Depression" in and after 1929, but also American optimism: not much fear and not much hatred -- 6.South of the Border and Across the Pacific -- The Southern Hemisphere -- The Far East -- 7."Middle Class" Is Not "Bourgeois" -- The failure of liberal democracies -- Authoritarian governments, dictatorships -- A crisis of capitalism -- The United States and other examples of parliamentary democracy -- 8."I Was a Nationalist, but I Was Not a Patriot" -- National Socialism -- Hitler -- 9.The Wave of the Future -- The Hitler decade -- His domination of Europe --Contents note continued: The coming of the Second World War -- 10."I Hope It Is Not Too Late" -- The Second World War -- The European phase, 1939 to 1941 -- Germany triumphant -- Five leaders -- 11.To Subdue and Conquer Germany and Japan -- After Pearl Harbor, six months of Allied defeats -- The naval and military turning points of the war -- German ability to carry on -- Mussolini eliminated -- Turning the tide in the east -- The Allied invasion of France -- Hitler's determination -- The conquest of Japan -- 12.The Division of Europe Almost Complete -- Europe still the center of history -- The new geography of the continent -- The movements of people -- Rigidification of the division of Europe -- The "iron curtain" -- First American reactions -- Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan -- Europe the center of the Cold War -- Stalin and Asia -- 13.The Brave Harry Truman -- The Cold War at its peak -- The Korean War -- Death of Stalin -- The Soviet Union begins to retreat --Contents note continued: American misunderstandings -- Russia and China -- The so-called Third World emerges -- The Cuban Missile Crisis -- The tensions of the Cold War lessen -- 14.American Nationalism, American Benevolence -- Americas century: more than that -- Problems rather than periods -- Changes in the composition of the American people -- Uniqueness during and after the Second World War -- American nationalism -- The emergence of American "conservatism" -- The United States toward the end of the Cold War -- 15."Europe," and the End of the Cold War -- "Europe": impreciseness of its definition -- The principal object during the Second World War -- After that, its division and the consequences -- Attempts toward an integration of Europe -- The decomposition of the Russian sphere in Europe -- Its rapidity around 1989, while its consequences are not foreseeable -- 16."Great Leap Forward" -- The Third World -- Near and Middle East -- Far East and Australia -- Africa --Contents note continued: South America and the Western Hemisphere -- The movements of peoples -- 17.The Limitations of Human Knowledge -- A transitional century -- Inheritances of the preceding one -- Positive achievements -- Technologies -- Weakening enthusiasm for some of its applications -- Cultural and civilizational decline -- Shortcomings of scientific determinism; scattered recognitions thereof -- We and our earth: again at the center of the universe.
ISBN:
9780674725362 (alk paper)
Dewey class:
909.82
Language:
English
BRN:
264415