The Twentieth Century

Never before had any century in history known the continually accelerating rate and scope of change experienced in the twentieth century -- with its revolutionary discoveries, technological inventions, political upheaval, and scientific advances, radical transformation touched virtually every
arena of life.

In The Twentieth Century: A World History, R. Keith Schoppa uses a global lens spanning Africa, the Middle East, Russia, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and the Americas. He traces the major developments of the twentieth century from the rise of globalization to the dawn of the digital age; from the
Great War of 1914-18 to the "great war in Africa," conflicts that span the first genocide of the century in Namibia to that of Bosnia-Kosovo in the late 1990s. It was the "century of the refugee," as the explosion of human violence caused significant population displacement-and it was also the
century of indigenous peoples fighting off the lingering impacts of imperialism. This volume surveys various U.S. struggles in battles for civil rights, and witnesses the 1992 collapse of Soviet communism. The century ended in a spasm of violence: four African and European national genocides and
the African war, one of the ten deadliest in history, involving nine nations, leaving 6 million dead and 5.4 million refugees.

From the collapse of empires to the rise of decolonized nation-states on the global stage, The Twentieth Century: A World History offers a rich chronological narrative of our recent past and provides a valuable historical standpoint from which to view our twenty-first century world.

"The twentieth century was studded with extraordinary achievements in medicine, science, technology, and space. Though for all its positive attributes, this century was the most violent in history, killing an estimated 30 million people in cold-blooded genocides, and, in wars, an estimated 187 million people. There was not a single year in the hundred-year span when there were no significant wars. In each chapter I have chosen several men and women, many not well-known, on whom I focus a bit more than other historical actors. In most cases, they reflect the spirit of their times, though generally their approaches and contributions are distinctively nuanced. Existing in a climate primed for war and violence, they, like everyone else, had to decide where their source of political identity lay and, when a decision was necessary, where their political allegiance would fall. To their own lives as individuals in a specific locality? Or to a particular nation? Or to the larger global community? Given that this allegiance factor has been much discussed during the last half of the century up through today, to what geographical level do we see world citizens committing their allegiance? That answer will be a key determinant of the future of the world. This chronological narrative also traces other crucial twentieth century developments: women and their professional and social roles, goals, successes, and setbacks; the powerful forces of race and ethnicity; the role of identity; environmental issues, including atomic energy and the sustainability of natural resources; the causes and changing nature of wars around the world; and the historical roles of contingency and memory"--