Progress and Barbarism: The World in the Twentieth Century

by Clive Ponting

How has the world changed in the last century? As we look back across a hundred years of turbulence, Clive Ponting provides a major reassessment of what the twentieth century has meant to people throughout the world. Progress and Barbarism analyses the fundamental forces of population, industry and their consequences for the environment. It traces the rise and fall of empires, the impact of nationalism, examines domestic politics from all political perspectives, and considers the darker side of history in the growing repressive power of states across the world and the most terrible of twentieth-century crimes - genocide. Progress and Barbarism is a provocative and challenging interpretation of twentieth-century history, combining a global sweep and an eye for detail and individual experiences.

840 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 30, 2011

Reviews

[Pinko Palest · Rating 3 out of 5]

most of this is a hugely depressing read, in which the author sees the worst in almost everything that's happened over the 20th century, but despite the misery, most of his points are fair and reasonable. The trouble is that is some instances, and they seem to be quite a few, he has not done all his homework. A worthwhile and worthy read though