Barbarism and Civilization by Bernard Wasserstein
The twentieth century in Europe witnessed some of the most brutish episodes in history. Yet it also saw incontestable improvements in the conditions of existence for most inhabitants of the continent - from rising living standards and dramatically increased life expectancy, to the virtual elimination of illiteracy, and the advance of women, ethnic minorities, and homosexuals to greater equality of respect and opportunity. It was a century of barbarism and civilization, of cruelty and tenderness, of technological achievement and environmental spoliation, of imperial expansion and withdrawal, of authoritarian repression - and of individualism resurgent. Covering everything from war and politics to social, cultural, and economic change, Barbarism and Civilization is by turns grim, humorous, surprising, and enlightening: a window on the century we have left behind and the earliest years of its troubled successor.
This book will almost certainly have a prominent place on the reading lists of courses on contemporary European HistoryChristopher Reeves, Political Studies Review Wasserstein fashions a powerful narrative. Sunday Independent. This is a huge synthesis marvelously researched, enriched with interesting pictures and a massive bibliography. Sunday Independent. Milton Shain. A rich and broad ranging synthesis...Numerous plums enrich an always fluently written and insightful text that artfully conceals the vast amount of material that has been synthesized. Mark Mazower. Times Literary Supplement. An admirable work of scholarly synthesis, which should be required reading... for anyone absorbed by the perplexing century we recently left behind. Geoffrey Wheatcroft, The Spectator eloquent, exhaustive and highly learned, this book is both a considerable achievement and an enlivening read...a highly competent and impressive book. John Bew, Times Higher Education Supplement Thoughtful, fast-moving... exciting. As narrative histories of the last century go, this is as good as it gets. Dominic Sandbrook, Literary Review By turns grim, humorous and surprising, this is a fascinating sweep of the century, covering war, politics, and social, cultural and economic change. Belfast Telegraph
Bernard Wasserstein was born in London in 1948 and educated at Balliol and Nuffield Colleges, Oxford. He has taught at Sheffield, Oxford, Glasgow, and Brandeis Universities and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Since 2003 he has been Harriet and Ulrich Meyer Professor of History at the University of Chicago. His many previous books include Britain and the Jews of Europe 1939-1945 and The Secret Lives of Trebitsch Lincoln (which won the Golden Dagger Award for Non-Fiction from the Crime Writers' Association).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780198730743 |
| ISBN 10 | 0198730748 |
| Title | Barbarism and Civilization |
| Author | Bernard Wasserstein |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 2007-11-01 |
| Number of pages | 928 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |