Books reviews, current events, and other musings

Martin Gilbert's A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume 3: 1952-1999 is a good book, though I didn't enjoy it as much as the first two volumes. Gilbert lost some of his enthusiasm while churning out volume 3, and I became somewhat tired of reading it. Still, it is satisfying to get through a 3000-page series, a year-and-a-half after starting it.

One thing that struck me was how distant the Cold War seems. After all, for a majority of my lifetime, along with the two preceding decades, the superpower conflict dominated world events, and nobody expected that situation to change any time soon. Now, I have to reach back pretty far to recall the USSR, the threat it posed, and the measures taken by the US to counter that threat. Gilbert emphasized the atrocities that Stalin and Mao Tse-tung orchestrated against their own people. The collapse of the Soviet Union was, as you might expect, the most exciting portion of the book.

I was curious to see how a first-rate historian would treat recent events, which I followed at the time. The US history was very familiar and not particularly illuminating. Sometimes, such as the discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the end of apartheid in South Africa, Gilbert provides a perspective that is difficult to obtain when reading the newspapers. Regarding other events, such as the war over the Falkland Islands, the book fleshed out the full story where I previously knew just the bare outline. Finally, Gilbert explained topics, such as the civil war in Sri Lanka, that I knew nothing about. The book frequently reminded me how poorly the American media covers international stories.

Gilbert went over the last few decades rather thoroughly, except for his neglect of Latin America. He focused on traditional history, such as wars and tumultuous changes. He didn't spend much time on countries, besides the superpowers, who were at peace. Gilbert mentioned technological developments, economic conditions, and disease, but those kinds of issues were not the main focus.

I'd recommend the entire series. Gilbert's writing is clear and well-structured. Plus, A History of the Twentieth Century provides an excellent way of filling in the gaps in your historical knowledge.