Customer Reviews

A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume II: 1933-1951

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gilbert writes well. Despite the breadth of the subject matter, 19 tumultuous years of world history, he manages to paint a well-done macro-view of world evens.

I agree that there is some euro-centric focus. In his defense, the rise of Hitler, the Holocaust, Hitler's war double-front war in eastern and western Europe makes a euro-centric focus almost ineveitable.

With regard to Asia, Gilbert also takes time to set out details of Japan's imperial expansion in the 30s and 40s, and its economic, political, and military impact on Asia as a whole. Gilbert also spends considerable time discussing the begging of the end of French colonial involvement in Indochina.

Little attention was paid, with the exception of South Africa and WWII battle in North Africa, to events in Africa. Missing from Volume II was any mention of the first stages of the emergence of post-colonial Africa (whether east of west Africa) between 1945 and 195. I await Volume III to see if greater attention is paid to this subject.

Similar comments pertain to Central and South America.

Gilbert's concise and clean writing made reading this book a pleasurable, and informative, experience. I recommend it.

yet another superb book from the great martin gilbert- the eagerly awaited second part of this monumental 3 part work - a fine example of the continuity of human nature as well as the overwhelming sweep of change and events in this most remarkable of times in history,the 20th century

I won't review this book (or series) in detail, but I will say that Martin Gilbert delivers exactly what his title promises: A history, not THE history. No text of this size can possibly promise to cover the entirety of the world's history this century, and so in order to get more than a laundry list of events out of it, I think some sacrifices were rightfully made. Gilbert seems to have chosen a Euro-centric point of view, probably because this is where his expertise lie. And what he has chosen to focus on is very well covered and written. In reading these volumes I have a much greater appreciation of (some of) the events of this century. And when I want to round out this history with a more Asian or African or South American focus, I will do so by reading another author whose expertise lie in those areas.

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 the second volume Gilbert masterfully guides us through the events that mesmerized and profoundly affected the whole world, from the Depression of the 1930s to the efforts of various world leaders to construct a workable peace in the face of the mounting hostility from a Nazified Germany. Of course, the drift into the Second World War and the conduct of that massive conduct is the centerpiece of the book, and in the effort Gilbert illustrates just how well he can provide an interesting, provocative, and intelligible overview of such a mind-boggling war involving so many people in so many far flung places throughout the world. This really is history that has been shorn of all its externalities, stripped to its bare essentials, clipped free of all its celebrities, all its petty nonsense, and its hoopla, to concentrate only on that which is central, consequential, and the core of the stuff of history. In Gilbert's capable hands we come to better appreciate just how momentous the torrent of worldwide changes were, sweeping away all that went before them. 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 to and including the Second World War, and allowing for a better understanding of the world that emerged from the cauldron of that conflict, 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 London to Berlin, from Moscow to Washington, from Singapore 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 picks up the thread of the story of this century in the early 1950s in the midst of the world's adjustment to the new political stand-off between the United States and the Soviet Union. Enjoy!

Gilbert has a commanding knowledge of the history of World War II and the plight of the victims of the holocaust, which is the strength of this volume. The historical perspective is greatly biased towards the British view of European history and relegates American history during this period almost to a footnote. Still, the perspective an important one, which as an American I have not been exposed to often. The details relating to the extermination of opponents to Nazism and the Jews is very well researched and eye-opening. The greatest weakness of the book is a tendency to delve into too great a detail regarding the demise of various British Empire holdings, such as Burma or India, at the expense of more important historical events during the same years. This is an important historical perspective, but tends to go into archaic detail at the expense or more important events at times.

Then you must buy this book! I have read extensively on WWII, and this book is the most complete and definitive I have read to date. Martin does a masterful job of presenting the facts in a personal way, without getting bogged down in dry detail. He does an excellent job of putting a name and a face beside his content. The research was absoulutely exhaustive, and the manner in which he uses names instead of just numbers and cold statistics is superb. The overall picture of a world gone mad is tightly woven into individual experiences, and the result is a comprehensive overview that shows the incredible sacrifices of so many. Being English, the author does tend to Lionize Churchill, but his contributions to the war may be largely unknown to many. He was indeed a man of great foresight, and accurately predicted what so many politicians in the U.K. either were unwilling to admit, or simply failed to comprehend. This book is a must read for any WWII historian.

How does he do it? Gilbert must have an army of research assistants to produce books on the scale that he does. This book is true to what has become the standard Gilbert formula - a very straight chronological narrative which gains its effects by piling on well-chosen details. There is little attempt at analysis and the book is constructed on a chapter per year basis - a very eccentric way of doing things these days. Other reviewers have commented on the book's Eurocentric bias (it is supposed to be a world history after all). From an Antipodean perspective the book certainly is amazingly Eurocentric. We are used to general histories of World War II minimizing or downplaying or overlooking the British Commonwealth role in the defeat of the Axis powers and Japan - to his credit Gilbert does have a few references to the Australian and New Zealand forces but otherwise this part of the world is something he does not notice. We are used to that, however. However coverage of the Pacific conflict, Japan and China is also quite lightweight compared to the focus on Europe.

The book really has to stand comparison with the other one-volume histories of World War II. It is just not in the same league as say Watt's book on the outbreak of the European war or Weinberg's _World at Arms_. However Gilbert certainly can write well and the book is easy to read and sometimes the Gilbert technique works very effectively. Until I read this book I did not really grasp the importance of the Enigma and Ultra code-breaking efforts, the significance of which Gilbert brings out very clearly. He has his obvious heroes, who most of us would endorse no doubt - Churchill, Roosevelt, and Truman. (In fact the book struck me as particularly good on Truman, but specialists might disagree). The book is good on Korea, Israel and the coming of independence to India, very strong on Europe (although not good on postwar France, surely an important subject), and much weaker on China. The rest of the world - Africa. Latin America, the Southwest Pacific, hardly rates a mention.

This is a three-volume history of the 20th century starting with the Boer War in 1900 and continuing to 1999. After seeing 'Downton Abbey' on PPS I began reading the first volume starting with 1913. I knew the Granthams were in for some big changes. I keep reading to 1933, and then searched for the second volume. I found a nice used copy on Amazon.com and I am now reading about 1934. Martin is quite good at selecting the highlights (and lowlights) for each year. In about 15 pages he describes the big political events around the globe, disaster like fires and hurricanes and signs of human progress. His writing style is serious and light-hearted at the same time and a pleasure to read.

There are many good reviews here so I'll keep it short. If you're looking something that covers the period in a general way with lots of relevant details thrown in then get this book. It's very readable for a history book that covers so much area and the chronological setup is very effective at giving you the sense of the times. I read this series from book 1 to 3 and recommend that as it gives you the best flow and all the events build on one another. I think some people are overly critical here. For what this book is and was meant to be it's a very worthwhile read.

yet another superb book from the great martin gilbert- the eagerly awaited second part of this monumental 3 part work - a fine example of the continuity of human nature as well as the overwhelming sweep of change and events in this most remarkable of times in history,the 20th century