One World Divisible: A Global History Since 1945 (The Global Century Series) |
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One World Divisible: A Global History Since 1945 (The Global Century Series)
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by David Reynolds
Sales Rank: 449599
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List Price: $21.95
$16.46
At Amazon
on 6-20-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 920 pages
Published by: W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition February 2001
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0393321088
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0393321081
Book Dimensions:
9.4 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
Weighs: 2.4 pounds
Product Review
"Writing a global history of the second half of this century is, of course, an impossible task."
You've got to give Cambridge fellow David Reynolds credit for such frankness, but it certainly didn't stop him from setting out to accomplish the impossible. Thankfully, Reynolds succeeds brilliantly, as becomes quickly clear from this marvelous, unbelievably readable 860-page survey, roughly bookended by the Berlin blockade and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The project is impossible, "of course," thanks to the subject's staggering size and complexity, but Reynolds takes this in stride, admits his limitations, and digs into a robust, good-spirited, and even-handed analysis, intimidating as a whole but approachable and engaging in its parts.
One World Divisible does tackle it all--the political, social, and cultural changes of an era that witnessed ever-increasing unity, interconnectedness, and globalization. All the usual suspects--the cold war, the decolonization of Africa and Asia, the rebirth of post-war Germany and Japan--get predictably thorough treatment, but Reynolds also takes on the "feminist earthquake" of women's lib and the pill, looks at how advances in electronics and genetics far outweighed the impact of exploiting the atom, and even tracks the global spread of "Coca-colonization" and rock & roll. Through it all, Reynolds's readable voice and thoughtful organization keep you reading; discrete, intuitive chapters such as "Israel, Oil, and Islam," "Color, Creed, and Coups," and "Chips and Genes" give you just enough to chew on along the way. A fine beginning to W.W. Norton's ambitious Global Century series. --Paul Hughes
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Reynolds (Rich Relations: The American Occupation of Britain, 1942-1943), a historian of WWII and international relations, plays up several key themes from the post-WWII period, including the march of capitalism and the erosion of the state. In an increasingly globalized economy, he suggests, multinational corporations have taken over jobs that used to belong to the state. Politics drives Reynolds's narrative, but he has made a valiant effort to integrate social history and women's history. Four chapters in particular turn the reader's eye from Khrushchev, Begin, Thatcher and Reagan to "social and cultural change": American suburbanization and consumer culture, art and music, computers and DNA ("Chips and Genes"). In his final chapter on values at the end of the century, the historian reflects on a potpourri of disparate phenomena: fundamentalism, postmodernism, in vitro fertilization, the greenhouse effect, tobacco and human rights. Sadly, however, Reynolds's social history is not as global as his political history--his discussions of culture, families and "isms" pay too much attention to Europe and America. Many will laud this book as definitive, but in the end, though it is massive in scope and will be a handy reference for readers wanting an introduction to the postwar world, the book is no replacement, as either analysis or synthesis, for Eric Hobsbawm's masterful study, The Age of Extremes. Maps. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Reader Reviews
Tackling world history of course is no laughing matter and although Reynolds exhibits his sense of humor throughout, there is no doubt that he takes his work seriously (based on the massive amount of research that went into this book) and there is nothing frivolous at all about the central theme of 'One World Divisible'. The basic view is that world history since 1945 has been very contradictory. Reynolds sees a "dialectical process of greater integration" but also "greater fragmentation". He says "the tools of unification...also served as weapons of disintegration - creating new states and sects, reinforcing old cultures and nations". This view of world history as one of change through the conflict of opposing forces is not limited to the ideological battles of the cold war nor even the armed battles of regional hot wars. Reynolds includes the conflicts arising from "reaffirmation of national culture in the face of globalization". Forces that act to seperate at the same time that instant communication, technological revolutions and the global economy are shrinking the world; opposing forces that make the idea of a global society ludicrous. Reynolds however is not talking about a 'Clash of Civilizations' as in Samuel Huntington's book; he still sees world history since 1945 as being primarily a story of nations, not cultures. In steering away from focusing on cultural influences in world history Reynolds gives us his own personal cultural perspective. The book, he says, is "a limited and personal view"; personal being that of a white middle-aged English academic. The world view of many historians fitting this description sees the cold war as the fulcrum on which all latter 20th century history rests. Not so with Reynolds. He sees this as Western self satisfaction and a blinkered view of history and he certainly does not see victory in the cold war as any great portent for the West. There is a much broader view here, and a wealth of knowledge about the wider world; other worlds even, such as the 'Third World' or the developing world. 'One World Divisible' is encyclopedic; it's full of statistics, tables, dates and mini biographies of world leaders. The amount of data available, strangely enough, is one of the weaknesses of the book. Reynolds has an easy narrative style and a dry sense of humor that make reading enjoyable, but the humor is not able to hold out for the distance - over 800 pages, and the narrative can't quite bring all the data together neatly enough. In the end the book suffers from the same fate as Reynolds' history - coming together but also apart - one book divisible.
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One World Divisible: A Global History Since 1945 (The Global Century Series)
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