20th Century Books - Page 4

A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide

Samantha Power

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Total reviews: 187 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

About this book:In 1993, as a 23-year-old correspondent covering the wars in the Balkans, I was initially comforted by the roar of NATO planes flying overhead. President Clinton and other western leaders had sent the planes to monitor the Bosnian war, which had killed almost 200,000 civilians. But it soon became clear that NATO was unwilling to target those engaged in brutal "ethnic cleansing." American statesmen described Bosnia as "a problem from hell," and for three and a half years refused to invest the diplomatic and military capital needed to stop the murder of innocents. In Rwanda, around the same time, some 800,000 Tutsi and opposition Hutu were exterminated in the swiftest killing spree of the twentieth century. Again, the United States failed to intervene. This time U.S. policy-makers avoided labeling events "genocide" and spearheaded the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers stationed in Rwanda who might have stopped the massacres underway. Whatever America's commitment to Holocaust remembrance (embodied in the presence of the Holocaust Museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C.), the United States has never intervened to stop genocide. This book is an effort to understand why. While the history of America's response to genocide is not an uplifting one, "A Problem from Hell" tells the stories of countless Americans who took seriously the slogan of "never again" and tried to secure American intervention. Only by understanding the reasons for their small successes and colossal failures can we understand what we as a country, and we as citizens, could have done to stop the most savage crimes of the last century.-Samantha Power

The War of the World

Niall Ferguson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 57 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Typical liberal view of history 1 out of 5 stars.
8 of 29 people found this review helpful.

Ferguson should move to an island where he can set up his utopia of fair war since the USA is such a vile place.
I'm glad we bombed Hiroshima, Dresden and couldn't give a wit's care about what we did.
Ferguson couldn't hold the chin strap of one of the Rangers that went over the cliffs at Point Du Hoc nor any of the thousands of B-17 crews that never made it to Dresden.
War is hell, Mr. Ferguson but we didn't start it and we sure as heck found a way to end it sooner.
In Mr. Ferguson's world, we should have stopped bombing and sacrificed another 100,000 on the beaches and rice paddies of Japan just to satisfy the "fairness" of our tactics.
It is this revisionist thinking that is the primary reason that we home-school and will continue to refer to that group of young soldiers, airmen, rivet-drivers and victory garden growers as the "The GREATEST GENERATION."

Editorial Review:

Astonishing in its scope and erudition, this is the magnum opus that Niall Ferguson’s numerous acclaimed works have been leading up to. In it, he grapples with perhaps the most challenging questions of modern history: Why was the twentieth century history’s bloodiest by far? Why did unprecedented material progress go hand in hand with total war and genocide? His quest for new answers takes him from the walls of Nanjing to the bloody beaches of Normandy, from the economics of ethnic cleansing to the politics of imperial decline and fall. The result, as brilliantly written as it is vital, is a great historian’s masterwork.

Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire

Alex Von Tunzelmann

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Fun, and well-written 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I enjoyed this book a lot. The writing style is excellent and the story is fascinating. I've read a few books about the amazing story of Indian independence. This one is focused on the personalities involved, particularly Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten and Nehru. As a book about people and personalities, it is more approachable than some of the history books; some of it is downright gossipy, although never in a lowbrow way. So it's very pleasurable and easy to read. Enjoy!

Editorial Review:

At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the British Empire withdrew from India, inviting in all the exhilaration and turmoil of a newly free society. In this vivid, atmospheric popular history, Alex von Tunzelmann chronicles these times through the most prominent figures: Dickie Mountbatten, Britain’s dashing, inept last viceroy; Dickie's savvy, glamorous wife, Edwina, who found the love of her life in Jawaharlal Nehru, India's new prime minister; Muslim leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and Mohandas Gandhi. Tunzelman's thrilling chronicle "removes the veil from the colorful personalities and events behind Inida's independence and partition with Pakistan" (The Washington Post).

Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization

Nicholson Baker

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Total reviews: 65 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

There is no revisionism on the planet that can turn Churchill into Hitler, no matter how eloquently the attempt is made. 3 out of 5 stars.
8 of 10 people found this review helpful.

"Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization", best-selling author Baker's first work of non-fiction, is a history of the buildup to World War II as told via snippets from newspapers, personal diaries, memoirs, etc. Baker provides a minimum of personal interjections or opinions along the way, preferring instead to let the chosen selections speak for themselves. The end result is a grim and depressing narrative that shows the breaking out of World War II as the inevitable conclusion of the machinations of American industrialists looking for new markets in Asia and Europe, Roosevelt's desires to impose his visions of an Anglo-American order upon the world, and, particularly, Winston Churchill's ruthless and bloodthirsty pursuit of a wider and more devastating war.

It needs to be said by the reviewer and, hopefully, known by the reader that Baker is emphatically not a historian. The text itself and post-release interviews with Baker himself indicate that the author had a thesis in his head before the book was written, and the material presented is that which most strongly supports it. The result is a tale of a haunting descent into both total war and industrial holocaust that, possibly, could have been, if not avoided, at least mitigated, had the men in power simply had the moral fiber to choose differently.

This book is going to appeal strongly to a certain subset of readers that wish to believe that capitalism, anti-semitism, etc., were stronger factors in the outbreak of World War II than, say, fascism and national socialism. The supposed anti-semitism of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt gets almost as much ink as that of the Nazis, particularly as it involves the USA's (along with most every other nation on the planet) unwillingness to take in more Jewish refugees than our immigration laws at the time allowed. Likewise, the push by American aircraft manufacturers to design and sell new warplanes to all and sundry in the 30's, even though the total figures involved come out to about 100 planes total throughout the pre-1939 period, gets more consideration as a cause of the increasing belligerence and actual combat around the globe than does the considerably more gigantic buildup of the fascist and Soviet militaries during the same time.

Likewise, a lot of pages and ink are given over to the pronunciamentos and goals of various pacifist movements through the first decades of the 20th Century, with the clear subtext of "had we listened to them, the war would never have started, or at least not been as vicious". While there is much to be said for studying the pacifist movement prior to and during the start of World War II, there is little to be said for believing for an instant that, had Churchill or Roosevelt just listened more closely to the them, Hitler and Tojo would've somehow been less warlike as a result.

That leads to the biggest problem of the book; it's _incredibly_ biased. All histories are, to some extent, a reflection of the author's biases, sure. However, the lack of any context being provided here would lead the uneducated reader to assume that the viciousness of the war itself and the Holocaust need not have happened as they did. The lack of much editorial context by the author actually serves to reinforce this aspect; the reader has no guide as to why Baker chose a given text in the first place. The reader, if not Baker's argument, would actually be better served if Nicholson had chosen to provide more editorial context for his selections. At least that way, the pro-pacifist, anti-Churchillian bias of the author would be a known quantity instead of something just hinted at.

The obvious counter-argument can be made that, well: these ARE Churchill and Roosevelt's and Chennault's own words, are they not? Sure, they are. However, the context that would clearly show that these men were emphatically NOT the primary actors driving the events of the era is simply not there. We hear much of the bloodthirsty-ness of Churchill, Bomber Harris, etc. The comparable and considerably more voluminous and damning words of the Hitlers and Mussolinis of the era are much less present.

When they are present at all, they've been chosen to show the rare moments when these men were hoping for an end to the war they had started (so long as it ended on their terms and with their bloody conquests already made allowed to be kept).

While a very engrossing and emotionally effective (and affecting) read, I could not recommend "Human Smoke" to anyone whom I was not already aware of possessing a clear understanding of how World War II came to be. While the study of pacifism in the 30's and early 40's has its merits, the conclusion that it would have been effective had just certain men in the West been willing to listen to it, is unsupportable.

Editorial Review:

Bestselling author Nicholson Baker, recognized as one of the most dexterous and talented writers in America today, has created a compelling work of nonfiction bound to provoke discussion and controversy---a wide-ranging, astonishingly fresh perspective on the political and social landscape that gave rise to World War II.

Life: 100 Events That Shook Our World : A History in Pictures from the Last 100 Years

LIFE MAGAZINE EDITORS

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Some dubious choices, but fun to look at 4 out of 5 stars.
11 of 13 people found this review helpful.

"100 Events" might better be titled, "100 20th century mostly-American events that LIFE has pictures of." Nothing wrong with that of course, but it would make for a more accurate title.

The book unfolds in classic LIFE format, with full page and double-page layouts of famous events. Some are truly momentous and have potential world-wide historical impact. The discovery of the structure of DNA will affect the way human beings heal, diagnose and even propagate. Dr. Christian Barnard's first heart transplant in 1967 also changed the way we see the human body - less as a unity than as an array of interchangeable parts. The dropping of the atomic bomb dramatically changed the nature of warfare and the way that all nations must learn to relate. And the walk on the moon in 1969 was a technical achievement that truly did astound the world and perhaps even paved the way for an end to the Cold War.

But Marilyn Monroe modeling a bikini? The Yankees acquiring Babe Ruth? Louis Armstrong? Madonna? The U2 Incident? Even the 1969 Woodstock music festival is a questionable choice.

Whatever.

The pictures are fun to look at. The events may spur debate. Which 100 would you choose? LIFE could have done worse.

Editorial Review:

There has never been another period of time to compare with the last 100 years. From the Auto Age to the Computer Age, from Lindenberg to a man walking on the moon, our world has been an endless wellspring of unparalleled drama. Using their trademark brilliant photography and informative writing, the editors of "Life" have assembled a fascinating, engrossing volume that captures the happenings and the characters who have fleshed out this saga, names that will live through the ages: FDR and JFK, the Babe and Elvis, Einstein and Martin Luther King. And, of course, the likes of Hitler and Osama Bin Laden. This is a volume certain to entertain today and for generations to come.

Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War

Mark Bowden

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Total reviews: 670 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The acclaimed New York Times bestseller Black Hawk Down is "a shocking account of modern warfare . . . gripping and horrifying" (San Francisco Chronicle)

Destined to become a classic of war reporting, Black Hawk Down is Mark Bowden's brilliant account of the longest sustained firefight involving American troops since the Vietnam War. On October 3rd, 1993, about a hundred elite U.S. soldiers were dropped by helicopter into the teeming market in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia. Their mission was to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord and return to base. It was supposed to take an hour. Instead they found themselves pinned down through a long and terrible night fighting against thousands of heavily armed Somalis. The following morning, eighteen Americans were dead and more than seventy had been badly injured.

Drawing on interviews from both sides, army records, audiotapes, and videos (some of the material is still classified), Bowden's minute-by-minute narrative is one of the most exciting accounts of modern combat ever written--a riveting story that captures the heroism, courage, and brutality of battle.

"Black Hawk Down ranks among the best books ever written about infantry combat. . . . A descendent of books like The Killer Angels and We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young."-- Bob Shacochis, The New York Observer

"If Black Hawk Down were fiction we'd rank it up there with the best war novels: The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer, or The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien."-- Tom Walker, The Denver Post

"Stands in a league with Shelby Foote's stirring Civil War Diary, Shiloh."-- Jim Haner, The Baltimore Sun

"One of the most gripping and authoritative accounts of combat ever written."-- Kirk Spitzer, USA Today

"Amazing . . . One of the most intense, visceral reading experiences imaginable."-- The Philadelphia Inquirer
A New York Times bestseller for 14 weeks
Bowden's Black Hawk Down series, which appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer was awarded the Overseas Press Club's Hal Boyle Award for best foreign reporting

The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia

Orlando Figes

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

GOOD JOURNALISM, BAD HISTORY 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 9 people found this review helpful.

This book cannot be classified as history.To write something based mostly on a myriad of interviews does not qualify it under the category of scientific research.It distorts and minimizes the historical framework of those horrible Stalin times by ignoring the overall historical dimension. .
A great disappointment and a great miss indeed.

Editorial Review:

A New York Times Notable Book of 2007

"A tremendous achievement."--The Sunday Times (London)

The Whisperers is a triumphant act of recovery. In this powerful work of history, Orlando Figes chronicles the private history of family life during the violent and repressive reign of Josef Stalin. Drawing on a vast collection of interviews and archives, The Whisperers re-creates the anguish of family members turned against one another--of the paranoia, alienation, and treachery that poisoned private life in Russia for generations. A panoramic portrait of a society in which everyone spoke in whispers, The Whisperers is "rigorously compassionate. . . . A humbling monument to the evil and endurance of Russia's Soviet past and, implicitly, a guide to its present" (The Economist).

Lili Marlene: The Soldiers' Song of World War II

Liel Leibovitz, Matthew Miller

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The dramatic story of an iconic love song, its three creators, and their lives under the Nazis.

"Lili Marlene," the unlikely anthem of World War II, cut across front lines and ideological divides, uniting soldiers across the globe. This love song, telling the story of a young woman waiting for her lover to return from the battlefield, began as a poem written by a German soldier during World War I. The soldier-poet's words found their way to Berlin's decadent cabaret scene in the 1930s, where they were set to music by one of Hitler's favored composers. The song's singer, however, soon found herself torn between her desire for fame and a personal hatred of the Nazi regime. In a gripping and suspenseful narrative, the three artists' remarkable stories of arrests and close calls intertwine with the recollections of soldiers on all sides who fought their way through deserts and towns, seeking solace and finding hope in "Lili Marlene."

The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe

William I. Hitchcock

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Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

American s are justly proud of th e role their country played in liberating Europe from Nazi tyranny. For many years, we have celebrated the courage of Allied soldiers, sailors, and aircrews who defeated Hitler's regime and restored freedom to the continent. But in recounting the heroism of the "greatest generation," Americans often overlook the wartime experiences of European people themselves -- the very people for whom the war was fought.

In this brilliant new book, historian William I. Hitchcock surveys the European continent from D-Day to the final battles of the war and the first few months of the peace. Based on exhaustive research in five nations and dozens of archives, Hitchcock's groundbreaking account shows that the liberation of Europe was both a military triumph and a human tragedy of epic proportions.

Hitchcock gives voice to those who were on the receiving end of liberation, moving them from the edge of the story to the center. From France to Poland to Germany, from concentration-camp internees to refugees, farmers to shopkeepers, husbands and wives to children, the experience of liberation was often difficult and dangerous. Their gratitude was mixed with guilt or resentment. Their lives were difficult to reassemble.

This strikingly original, multinational history of liberation brings to light the interactions of soldiers and civilians, the experiences of noncombatants, and the trauma of displacement and loss amid unprecedented destruction. This book recounts a surprising story, often jarring and uncomfortable, and one that has never been told with such richness and depth.

Ranging from the ferocious battle for Normandy (where as many French civilians died on D-Day as U.S. servicemen) to the plains of Poland, from the icy ravines of the Ardennes to the shattered cities and refugee camps of occupied Germany, The Bitter Road to Freedom depicts in searing detail the shocking price that Europeans paid for their freedom.

Today, with American soldiers once again waging wars of liberation in faraway lands, this book serves as a timely and sharp reminder of the terrible human toll exacted by even the most righteous of wars.

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers

Paul Kennedy

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Total reviews: 57 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Flawed premises lead to wrong conclusions 2 out of 5 stars.
7 of 15 people found this review helpful.

Kennedy's book chronicles the decline of the British empire, and argues that the American empire is next. This is because, he says, both empires suffered or currently suffer from "imperial overstretch," that unhappy state of affairs where military and defense obligations outweigh the benefits accrued from the subject territories. This is a seriously flawed premise which, at best, fits the British empire only loosely, and the United States not at all.

The British empire did spend heavily in the years leading up to WW I (which Kennedy argues led to its decline) but Britain actually spent less on defense, as a percentage of GDP, than the other great powers at the time.

The "overstretch" thesis is even less apposite in the context of the United States. First, the U.S. is not an "empire" as Kennedy defines it. Second, U.S. military obligations have not risen in proportion to its GDP to the height of the Vietnam War. Third, Kennedy fails to adequately explain a logical link between military expenditures and economic decline. He does attempt to explain the link in purely economic terms, i.e., the massive amounts spent to sustain a military force, but he does not explain how military spending, which declined relative to GDP, is somehow different than social welfare spending, which has taken an increasingly large share of GDP.

What appears to suffer most from "overstretch" is Kennedy's thesis itself.

Editorial Review:

About national and international power in the "modern" or Post Renaissance period. Explains how the various powers have risen and fallen over the 5 centuries since the formation of the "new monarchies" in W. Europe.