| |||||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Commendable effort worth reading,
By
This review is from: History of the Twentieth Century, A, Vol I: Volume One: 1900 - 1933 (Hardcover)
Martin Gilbert is a terrific historian, and some reviews, in my opinion, are a bit too harsh. By definition, an historical overview of the first 33 years of the 20th Century in "just" 896 pages, is general in nature. I don't disagree with some of the reviewers that important events were glossed over, and some missed entirely. However, the most important event of international consequence during the period described is WWI, and Gilbert's account is superb. Having read Gilbert, I had a much greater appreciation of the "falling dominoes" which preceded and were responsible for the war. Certainly there are other works which deal with WWI in more detail (Keegan, Tuchman,etc., or in a different vein, Robert Graves and Remarque), and I doubt if Gilbert would disagree. However, for the hisorical novice, or for one who simply desires to be more conversant on the 20th century, this book is excellent. Like many overviews such as Gilbert's the bibliography provides a great resource for those who desire to probe more deeply into this tumultuous period in our history, which set the stage for WWII. Historial overviews serve a very valuable purpose and the reader should understand that the author is painting with a broad brush. A focused book limited to the First Battle of Ypres or the Battle of Belleau Wood makes far more sense when read after a work such as Gilbert's, not before, and therein, prehaps lies the great value. Likewise, one should read Foote or Catton prior to Coddington's classic on the Battle of Gettysburg. In summary, an excellent read placing the first 33 years of the 20th century in context,and well worth the time.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling !,
By Sugunan (Singapore) - See all my reviews
This review is from: History of the Twentieth Century, A, Vol I: Volume One: 1900 - 1933 (Hardcover)
My only gripe about this book is that, in trying to be comprehensive, it deals very lightly on the scientific, economic, cultural and artistic developments of the first 33 years of the century. How could he not mention the publication of Einstein's epoch-making papers in 1905! The author should have just concentrated on the political and military aspects; it is here that he is in his element. This is not analytical history, but I don't think it was meant to be. It sets out the facts plain and simple, and we are left to form our own opinions. And indeed I often paused to think about the implications of this or that event. Mr Gilbert is a fine writer, and his narrative becomes compelling as one reads on. The highlight of the book are the chapters regarding World War I; it is truly edge-of-the-seat stuff, which is quite remarkable for a narrative of this kind. Despite the faults, I enjoyed this book immensely, and I look forward eagerly to the remaning two volumes.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Masterful Attempt To Describe The Twentieth Century!,
By Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: A History of the Twentieth Century: Volume 1, 1900-1933 (Paperback)
British historian and academic Sir Martin Gilbert (knighted by the Queen in 1995) has a well-deserved reputation as one of the most authoritative academics on the subject of the twentieth century, and has written perhaps more prolifically than anyone else on various aspects of this remarkable epoch. Indeed, he has written such a torrent of different books on everything ranging from a multiple volume biography of Sir Winston Churchill to histories of World War One, World War two, that a complete accounting of his efforts would require more space than is available for the review. Thus it should come as no surprise that he has written a three-volume overview of the twentieth century itself. What is so surprising is how engaging, entertaining, and accessible each of the three volumes is to the reader.In this first volume Gilbert masterfully introduces us to the sweep of events beginning at the opening of the century, and we almost immediately understand just how momentous the coming changes must be to sweep away the incredible array of traditional forces present at the turn of the century in 1900. From the description in the opening pages of the so-called boxer Rebellion in China as the marvelous international cooperation that characterized this multi-country military and diplomatic operation to the narrative explaining the difficulties facing both the newly elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the rising Chancellor of Germany, Adolph Hitler, in the depths of the Depression some 33 years later, this is a book that engages the reader in the spectacle of the transformation of our world from everything autocratic, traditional and rigidly controlled to all that became so characteristic of the century thereafter; democratic, irrational, murderous, and wildly chaotic. With an amazing and delightful eye for absorbing detail, Gilbert threads his way through the particular personalities, events and issues as they arise chronologically. This is the one accurate criticism I have read about which may be directed at the book. He does stick fairly much to a faithful chronological narrative. Yet, given the plethora of events, issues, personalities and changes occurring throughout the world, any other organization would suffer from other problems such as maintaining context for the reader, so one can appreciate all that faced a particular leader in a given situation. Understanding how the multitudes of actors, issues, and countries are involved and intertwined lends itself to better comprehension, at least in this reviewer's mind. After all, it is mind-boggling to understand in the last hundred years the western world transformed itself in almost every dimension imaginable; technological, scientific, social, economic, and philosophical. To attempt to do justice to this wide panoply of revolutionary change requires a certain perspective and rigorous discipline to do so, especially in the 3,000 or so pages allotted to the overall work. The narrative herein works its way fatefully through the events leading up the First World War, guiding us through the tragedy of this most unnecessary of wars, and shows us how the various national interests and ideologies involved not only during the war but in its aftermath set the stage for what follows. One is struck by how masterfully Gilbert threads his way through this most essential lesson of history; i.e., how the past and what it holds profoundly sets the stage and writes the script for all that follows. From China to Berlin, from Sarajevo to Washington, from Gallipoli to Paris, we follow the story of our own century as it unfolds, and the act of finishing this particular volume only whets one's appetite for the next volume, which covers the era from the Depression of the 1930s through the epic events of the Second World War and the world that conflict created up into the 1950s.Enjoy!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
|
|
