One World Divisible: A Global History Since 1945

by David Reynolds

"A magisterial account of our time by a distinguished historian."―Walter LaFeber, prize-winning author of The Clash Global change has accelerated at an unprecedented pace in the last half-century. The trajectory of change points in different directions, with the world growing at once more interconnected and more fragmented. Commerce and migrations, television and the World Wide Web suggest a story of growing interconnection, while at the same time the proliferation of nation-states and the divisions rooted in religion, race, and material inequality tell of separation and conflict. David Reynolds’s brilliant history captures both themes and grounds them vividly in the people and events of the last fifty years. Reynolds captures the great political events: the Cold War, the Chinese revolution, independence movements, Vietnam, and the fall of the Soviet Union, and broader developments: economic and population growth, the spread of cities, vast technological change, genetic manipulation, and the creation of a digital world. Carefully avoiding an encyclopedic approach, Reynolds integrates these themes into a narrative with authority, vision, and style. A volume in the Global Century series, books by outstanding scholars on the history of the world in the twentieth century―general editor, Paul Kennedy. Illustrated, maps

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics

928 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 2000

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database. For more information please see David Reynolds.

A Professor of International History and a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. He was awarded a scholarship to study at Dulwich College, then Cambridge and Harvard universities. He has held visiting posts at Harvard, Nebraska and Oklahoma, as well as at Nihon University in Tokyo and Sciences Po in Paris. He was awarded the Wolfson History Prize, 2004, and elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2005. He teaches and lectures both undergraduates and postgraduates at Cambridge University, specialising in the two world wars and the Cold War. Since October 2013 he has been Chairman of the History Faculty at Cambridge.

Reviews

[Jonathanstray Stray]

I've spent years on this book, and although it's a lot to absorb, it's really helped me understand how the world has come to be the way it is today. I'm gonna finish it, I swear.

[Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant overview of post-war world history and as a work of synthesis I am kind of in awe at just how much he covers and covers well enough to eke out the important themes and point you in the direction of further more in-depth study.

[Joseph Stieb · Rating 4 out of 5]

The textbook for the Cold War course I'm TAing right now, truly phenomenally huge book that is actually global. Reynolds covers an impressive range of places and topics in here. He has really great chapters on global development in which he shows the many varieties of development as well as the sheer scale since 1945. He also has chapters that break from the chronological narrative and explore issues in often under examined areas in these types of books: the genetics and microprocessing revolutions, electrification, urbanization, changes in women's lives, even postmodernism and fundamentalism. This would be a good book for a World Since 1945 class as long as you don't assign the whole thing, which is just a little too bulky. Even if you don't assign it for class, it will make a fantastic lecture aide for hundreds of topics in any modern global history class. Hats off to Reynolds for this beast.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very informative book on events that shaped the world after 1945. It was great for me to learn about things that have happened in the recent history which have helped shape what is going on in the world right now. (Because this book has so many topics--there were certainly some that interested me more then others. Read what you are interested in. . .skip what bores you--but it is certainly worth the effort!)

[Jonathan Terrington]

I decided to add this to my 'ongoing' shelf since it will continue to be a work in progress to get this finished. I'll finish it one day as it's very interesting - and since I own it I can afford to go through it slowly.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. I learnt a lot of new things, and read a great deal that I didn't know.
Some chapters I found very hard to follow and understand, perhaps due to my lack of knowledge on some issues. But others were much easier to read.
Only read some chapters as used at university to study history.

[Danae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent book explains clearly the historical contexts for many current world events and relationships between countries.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A monster of a book that has taken me months of enjoyment to get through, I've learnt a lot.