A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 [Paperback]

Andrew Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 26, 2008

A magisterial history inspired by Winston Churchill's famous opus, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 is an engrossing account of the twentieth century, with a unique perspective on our turbulent times. In 1900, where Churchill ended the fourth volume of his History of the English-Speaking Peoples, the United States had not yet emerged onto the world scene as a great power. Yet the coming century was to belong to the English-speaking peoples, who successively and successfully fought the Kaiser's Germany, Axis aggression and Soviet Communism, and who are now struggling against Islamic fundamentalist terrorism. Andrew Roberts's History proves especially invaluable as the United States today looks to other parts of the English-speaking world as its best, closest and most dependable allies.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The English-speaking nations—America, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies—are a "decent, honest, generous, fair-minded and self-sacrificing imperium" and "the last, best hope for Mankind," argues this jingoistic peroration. Roberts (Napoleon and Wellington) treats them as a political-cultural unity, thriving on respect for law and property, laissez-faire capitalism and the Protestant ethic, and standing together against Nazism, communism and Islamic terrorism. (Ireland is the black sheep—backward, unruly, pro-fascist and Catholic.) His rambling, disjointed survey celebrates their achievements in science, technology, sports and Big Macs, but the book is mainly an apologia for an allegedly benign Anglo-American imperialism. The author defends virtually every 20th-century British or American military adventure, from the conquest of the Philippines to the Vietnam War, finishing with a lengthy justification of the invasion of Iraq; his villains are domestic critics and leftist intellectuals whom he calls "appeasers" and who sap the English-speaking peoples' resolve by propagandizing for totalitarianism (also Mel Gibson, whose anti-British movies sabotage English-speaking peoples' solidarity). Roberts writes in a bluff, Tory style, mixing bombast with jocular Briticisms like a running leitmotif of whimsical geopolitical wagers placed at London clubs. Lively but unsystematic, sometimes insightful but always one-sided, this is less a history than a chest-thumping conservative polemic. 16 pages of b&w photos, 2 maps. (Feb. 6)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Roberts has written a lengthy, ambitious, and interesting but flawed work intended as a sequel to Winston Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples,which ended with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. Robert eschews straight narrative history. Instead, he provides a series of vignettes covering various topics that range across the English-speaking world. He offers descriptions of the Boer War in South Africa, the role of capitalism in promoting economic development, and the American-supported coup that overthrew the Allende government in Chile. Roberts strains to show the fundamental unity of English-speaking peoples. He is somewhat convincing when dealing with Britain, New Zealand, and Australia. When he includes the U.S., he often goes to ludicrous lengths to find commonality. For example, he equates American neoconservatives with Britain's "empire men" in their supposed desire to spread civilization. In conflicts from the Boer War to the American suppression of the Philippine insurrection, Roberts consistently sees only the purest motives of "Anglo-Saxons." Still, this is a useful, if slanted, look at some key events of the twentieth century. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 752 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (February 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060875992
• ISBN-13: 978-0060875992
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #205,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 107 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tells the epic story of our times March 4, 2007

By John A. Barnes

Format:Hardcover

I have just now finished Andrew Roberts' magisterial "History of the English-Speaking Peoples" and I can say without reservation that I have not felt so exhilarated by a history book since first closing the cover on Paul Johnson's "Modern Times" 24 years ago.

Henry Luce said that the 20th century would be "the American Century." It would be more accurate to call it "the Anglosphere Century." Locked arm in arm, and not without squabbles and occasional bad feeling, the English-speaking peoples cam together in the 20th century to repel the assault on civilization by what can only be described as barbarism in four of its modern forms: Prussian militarism (twice), Communism, and now, Islamo-fascism. Well, three of them have been seen off, anyway. The fourth, we shall see.

Roberts demonstrates decisively that no other possible correlation of forces could have accomplished these worthy goals. The English-speaking world's long history of government by consent, public audit of government performance, an impartial judiciary, and general sense of fair play gave it enormous advantages over the supposed "efficiency" of the Germans, the Soviets' ruthlessness, and (we all must hope) Osama bin Laden's frightfulness.

And yes, Roberts has a point of view. He is unabashedly pro-free enterprise, pro-defense, worships Winston Churchill and even has some kind words to say about George W. Bush. All of this, particularly the latter, has caused many, including most of the loopier "reviewers" on this page - few if any of whom, I venture to say, bothered to actually read it - to go completely 'round the bend.

Look, if what you want to keep you warm at night is a book that will tell you it's all Bush/Blair's fault and Al Qaeda will disappear like a soap bubble at noon on Jan. 20, 2009, then bookstore shelves are groaning with titles awaiting you. But if you want something that is going to put the current struggle into context, and shows how we have won before against far more formidible odds than we face today, then this one is for you.

117 of 141 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Facts are stubborn things March 1, 2007

By Albert S. Copersino

Format:Hardcover

Reviewers who've disparaged this author refuse to accept the objective facts discussed in his book and the inevitable conclusion that arises from these facts: uniquely among great powers, the US and Britain have mostly been a force for good in the world. Simply compare, as the author does, the overall progress and freedom of the American sphere during the Cold War to the terror and privation of the Soviet bloc. Or the fact that the legacy of Britain's Empire is, predominantly, a series of countries with freely-elected parliaments (versus the blood-thirty dictatorships that have taken root in France's ex-colonies). Or recall the genocides comitted over the years by other world powers (Russia, Germany, Japan, China, Turkey, etc.). Unless you're incurably hostile to democracy and capitalism (capitalism being the economic manifestation of democracy), or to the use of military force to defend democracy against fascists (of any stripe or religion), this book will resonate with you.

63 of 78 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Stephen Bainbridge: The Fourth Great Assault on the Anglosphere March 5, 2007

By Troy Johnson

Format:Hardcover

A review has appeared in "TCS Daily" that makes me think the author gives this title five stars,because of this text:

"It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to write a book that explicitly picks up where Nobel Prize winner Winston Churchill's famous History of the English-Speaking Peoples left off. In a provocative new book, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 (HarperCollins, 2007), however, British historian Andrew Roberts largely succeeds in pulling off that daring stunt."

and states:

"Indeed, just as Churchill's History was intended to rally the Anglosphere in the early days of the struggle against Communism, Roberts' intent self-evidently is to rally the Anglosphere against Islamofascism."

Well worth reading if you are interested in buying the book:

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