Short description
Ferguson reinterprets the modern era and the central paradox of why unprecedented progress coincided with unprecedented violence, and why the seeming triumph of the West bore the seeds of its undoing.
Long description
Astonishing in its scope and erudition, this is the magnum opus that Niall Fergusons 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 historys 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 historians masterwork.
Review
aA heartbreaking, serious and thoughtful survey of human evil that is utterly fascinating and dramatic . . . superb narrative history.a
a The New York Times Book Review
aFergusonas best book, by far, since The Pity of War . . . from bond markets to the face of battle, he has returned to the themes of his earlier book and to his strengths.a
aPaul Kennedy, The New York Review of Books
aWielding at once the encyclopedic knowledge of an accomplished scholar and the engaging prose of a master storyteller, Ferguson commendably brings fresh insights to a history by now familiar. . . . A tour de force.a
a San Francisco Chronicle
aEven those who have read widely in 20th-century history will find fresh, surprising details.a
a The Boston Globe
aA fascinating read, thanks to Fergusonas gifts as a writer of clear, energetic narrative history.a
a The Washington Post