A History of the Twentieth Century
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Narrated by:
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John Curless
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By:
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Martin Gilbert
About this listen
Martin Gilbert, author of the multivolume biography of Winston Churchill and other brilliant works of history, chronicles world events year by year, from the dawn of aviation to the flourishing technology age, taking us through World War I to the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt as president of the United States and Hider as chancellor of Germany. He continues on to document wars in South Africa, China, Ethiopia, Spain, Korea, Vietnam, and Bosnia, as well as apartheid, the arms race, the moon landing, and the beginnings of the computer age, while interspersing the influence of art, literature, music, and religion throughout this vivid work. A rich, textured look at war, celebration, suffering, life, death, and renewal in the century gone by, this volume is nothing less than extraordinary.
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Questionable Narration
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Pearl Harbor
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The attack of the US Pearl Harbor Naval Base changed the entire progress of World War II, and as a result, it was a very formative event both for the United States and Japan. Though the two nations seemed unlikely enemies at the onset of the Second Great War, bloodshed between them would be greater than anyone could have imagined. The future of the world at large was changed on December 7, 1941, when the Empire of Japan chose to make a preemptive strike on its most feared Pacific neighbor, the United States of America.
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Don’t waste your credit
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Hitler's Europe Ablaze
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Local resistance to German-led Axis occupation occurred throughout the European continent during World War II, taking a wide range of forms - noncooperation and disinformation, sabotage and espionage, and armed opposition and full-scale partisan warfare. It is a key element in the experience and the national memory of those who found themselves under Axis government and control.
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Historically questionable.
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Stalin's War
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World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its events. But Hitler was not in power when the conflict erupted in Asia. His armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit any of the spoils of war. That central role belonged to Joseph Stalin. Drawing on ambitious new research in Soviet, European, and US archives, Stalin’s War revolutionizes our understanding of this global conflict by moving its epicenter to the east.
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Sean McMeekin Does It Again!
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October 1917, heralded as the culmination of the Russian Revolution, remains a defining moment in world history. Even a hundred years after the events that led to the emergence of the world's first self-proclaimed socialist state, debate continues over whether, as historian E. H. Carr put it decades ago, these earth-shaking days were a "landmark in the emancipation of mankind from past oppression" or "a crime and a disaster."
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Solid overview of events
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Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 1931-1941
- War in the Far East Series, Book 1
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Storm Clouds over the Pacific begins the story long before Pearl Harbor, showing how the war can only be understood if ancient hatreds and long-standing geopolitics are taken into account. Harmsen demonstrates how Japan and China's ancient enmity led to increased tensions in the 1930s, which, in turn, exploded into conflict in 1937.
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Interesting Story
- By Coach Mark on 03-25-23
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The Cold War's Killing Fields
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In this sweeping, deeply researched book, Paul Thomas Chamberlin boldly argues that the Cold War, long viewed as a mostly peaceful, if tense, diplomatic standoff between democracy and communism, was actually a part of a vast, deadly conflict that killed millions on battlegrounds across the postcolonial world. For half a century, as an uneasy peace hung over Europe, ferocious proxy wars raged in the Cold War’s killing fields, resulting in more than 14 million dead - victims who remain largely forgotten and all but lost to history.
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Interesting but Biased
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Modern Times
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Beginning with May 29, 1919, when photographs of the solar eclipse confirmed the truth of Einstein's theory of relativity, Johnson goes on to describe Freudianism, the establishment of the first Marxist state, the chaos of "Old Europe", the Arcadian 20s, and the new forces in China and Japan. Also discussed are Karl Marx, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Roosevelt, Gandhi, Castro, Kennedy, Nixon, the '29 crash, the Great Depression, Roosevelt's New Deal, and the massive conflict of World War II.
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The Anti-Howard Zinn
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Here is the many-faceted, world-historically significant story of Britain at war. In looking closely the military and political dimensions of the conflict's first crucial years, Alan Allport tackles questions such as: Could the war have been avoided? Could it have been lost? Were the strategic decisions the rights ones? How well did the British organize and fight? How well did the British live up to their own values? What difference did the war make in the end to the fate of the nation?
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A History worth your read
- By Norm the Nonfiction Reader on 08-18-21
By: Alan Allport
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What listeners say about A History of the Twentieth Century
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tim Bowles
- 03-22-19
History for the Distracted
Chrono-mini treatment of an entire 100 years on the planet. Very little perspective other than how persistent genocide was. When I heard the JFK assassination was supposedly committed by a “lone deranged gunman,” thus further indicating the lack of depth in the scholarship, I considered stopping. Yet I persisted. Valuable if one already at least moderately familiar with the period is looking for a definite timeline and random unrealized factoids along the way.
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- Shane
- 11-29-15
Super Straightforward
Would you listen to A History of the Twentieth Century again? Why?
Absolutely. The book is pretty dense so there is room for a few listens here.
What did you like best about this story?
This was one of the most unique audio books I've ever listened to. There is absolutely no analysis. Instead it is a complete narration of events as they occurred. While this can be a bit strange at times it really does give a unique feeling of how the century progressed. It was kind of like watching a news reel.
What about John Curless’s performance did you like?
His unwavering, almost monotone voice was perfect for the style of this book.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-22-18
An excellent précis of the 20tg Century
This was an excellent book narrated in an easy to listen to style. As someone born in 1950 it brought back memories and extended my knowledge of what went on worldwide between 1900-1999. Highly recommended, but glad I finished the whole thing.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jeff
- 10-08-14
A Focus on the Facts with Minimal Commentary
What made the experience of listening to A History of the Twentieth Century the most enjoyable?
Getting a breakdown of events across the globe decade by decade gives the listener a unique perspective on major happenings (mostly catastrophes) of the century. After finishing this work, one can see how difficult it is for modern historians to sort through the sheer volume of information to find some thread of reason behind it all.
What was one of the most memorable moments of A History of the Twentieth Century?
As I lover of world history, I was surprised to find so many critical details I had previously missed. For example, other works originally led me to think that WWI was sort of everyone's fault. 'However, after listening to a blow by blow progression of events the Kaiself himself seems to deserve most of the blame. . In addition, I had no idea that so much upheval occurred in the Soviet Union during the interwar period.
What aspect of John Curless’s performance would you have changed?
He kind of grows on you after a few hours, but I initially felt that he wasn't enunciating properly. He does well with pronunciation and really deserves at least 3.5 stars.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No, its fairly engaging but you really should limit yourself to one decade a day. Otherwise its easy to lose focus and end up Leopold's Congo thinking that the author is still discussing Republican China.
Any additional comments?
I think this work should have been shortened to only focus on its strong points_ politics, international relations and war. The terse references to developments in science, art and popular culture also seemed somewhat out of place,One other thing I could have done without was the author's bizarre obsession with automobile-related fatalities for which he provides almost yearly statistics.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Emily Brandt
- 09-20-15
We get it. The roads are dangerous.
The book was interesting, there's no denying that. However, I thought it was quite odd what the author chose to include and exclude. The part about the Korean War was excellent and is often excluded in books of this nature but statistics for road deaths are included at least 10 times, despite having no relevance to the story. Idi Amin, Amelia Earhart, FDR's health, and just about anything happening in South America or Africa weren't included at all or were given less than two minutes. I loved the format of the story but wish it wasn't so Eurocentric and so focused on wars as opposed to important cultural moments, which got almost no attention past the 1920s. Additionally, I had hoped the author would spend more time on stories that weren't so well known so I could have listened for 30 hours and come away feeing like I learned something.
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- Carlos
- 04-11-16
Clear and concise description of history.
Provided a clear and concise description of history in methodical manner. Of course their were aspects of historical significance left out, but covered the bulk of the most significant and not so mentioned (car fatalities) aspects that shaped our modern time.
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- musicboy
- 05-26-18
More interested in war than economic development
Very informative in terms of human rights and the balls wars and conflicts of the twentieth century. However, if you're interested in consumerism, living standards, and disposable time and income, this book is a disappointment.
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Overall
- Andrew Bettencourt
- 03-22-17
Solid Review of the 20th century
I really appreciated the author's attention to detail and coverage of so many different events, figures, inventions, and countries in this very significant century.
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- NYCShopper
- 05-14-16
A monumental achievement.
Where does A History of the Twentieth Century rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Certainly among the tops. World history is covered year by year, and recounts many of the most significant events and cultural milestones from across the globe. If you like history, this is a terrific work. The reader is excellent.
I have a couple of criticisms specific to the audiobook production:-- It's hard to keep track of what year is being covered, which is a real issue given that the book deals with 100 years. This wouldn't be a problem in the print version, but it's a very distracting issue in the audio version. I'm constantly rewinding to find the year mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. a task complicated by the fact that audio chapters don't correspond to book chapters, and there's no labeling in the audible chapter list. It's aggravating, and adds a lot of unnecessary time. I wish there some sort of reminder added in along the way, e.g., "Also in 1923..."
[BTW, I am always annoyed by the lack of chapter labeling in audiobooks, but one rarely contends with 100 chapters.]. Often the transition from one story to the next is too quick, so from time to time, you'll be part way into the next event before you realize you've moved from one country to another. Given that the reader's pace is very well modulated, I suspect that this was a time-shaving editing decision.
Who was your favorite character and why?
The author, for having the talent and patience to successfully make sense of 100 years of world history.
What about John Curless’s performance did you like?
Clear, with a really good sense of what to highlight emotionally.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
Massive wars, revolutionary technologies, a world communicating for the first time in history... here's the story of the century that changed humankind.
Any additional comments?
It's hard to think of another source that covers so much in such a concise and understandable way.
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- Patricia
- 11-11-11
I didn't know that.
I have always been a history buff, but this has opened my eye to a lot of 'hidden' history. I have not managed to listen to the whole book yet, but I currently live in Ukraine and have surprised some of my Ukrainian friends by knowing more of their history than they do. Also taking the history year by year puts things into proportion.
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7 people found this helpful