Interpreting the 20th Century: The Struggle Over Democracy

by Pamela Beth Radcliff

The 20th century transformed the political, social, and economic structures of the world in ways no one could have imagined as the 1800s came to a close. It was a time of intense and rapid change that stretches the capacity of the imagination: first flight and space flight, the Manhattan Project and the Welfare State, Nietzsche and Freud, the Great Depression and inflation, moving pictures and home computers, the Cold War and terrorism—and war and peace.

Genres: History, Audiobook, Nonfiction, Politics

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[William Adam Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded down. This is an overview of the political issues that defined the 20th century. This is the first course by Professor Radcliff that I have listened to. I would say that she speaks very clearly and has no distracting speech patterns. She also is not the most dynamic speaker either, so a few times, it was easy to tune her out.
This is a 48 lecture course, which allows Professor Radcliff to go further in depth on the issues that shaped the struggle for democracy during the last century. I guess part of the problem for me is that the professor focuses on World War I, World War II, and the Cold War, which for me, are areas of history that I have a fairly good background on. Professor Radcliff didn't break new ground, so a lot of this was rehashing common information. In some areas the longer lecture series has benefits. Professor Radcliff pays special interest to India, China, and Japan, giving these nations more attention than they often get. Of most interest to me were the lectures on Nigeria and Mexico, as these areas often are overlooked. But then there is just one more lecture summarizing all of Africa, and one more lecture covering all of Latin America. The Great Courses always ignores African and Latin Americans nations in the modern era.
The final section of the course discusses problems with globalization and the future of the nation state. These lectures are very interesting, but since this course was produced in 2004, expect a lot of current issues to be left out. For what it's worth, this is a pretty good course, but not great, as the name suggests.

[Alli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this particular Great Courses lecture series. However, the lecturer was very dry to listen to, especially in the first half of the series. The latter half was much better.

I did appreciate that the focus of the series was not just on the political and military actions in the 20th century, and included an introduction of the philosophical, sociological, and economic theories that shaped those political and military interventions throughout the century. I highlight this in this review mainly because I have seen other reviews that disliked this shift in focus, and while I agree it takes away from more "exciting" events, I find it particularly helpful in understanding the context within which these events occur.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Radcliff goes over a lot of info that I already knew but from a fresh perspective. She tied in a lot of 20th century events that are fairly familiar to each other in some ways I had never dwelt upon. She included some interesting insight on the contrasts of the US and Europe in their political development during the century. She gave me some things to think about for the future of world politics.

[jellyfishwalnut · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very comprehensive course covering the rise, descent, and rise again of democracy and liberal capitalism during the 20th century from a global perspective. I appreciated the inclusion of a world perspective - especially Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Note that this particular course was created in the early 2000s, as the Iraq War was happening. Although this course is not current, it is interesting from a retrospective sense to see what, even historians, were going to be the defining issues of the 21st century at its outset. Terrorism was obviously a big challenge for democracy, but I would argue there are other more pressing issues right now! Another drawback of this course, like other historical courses I've gone through, is that the pace of information speeds up after WWII. I wish Radcliff had dwelled longer in the decades after WWII.

[Charli Fulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This lecture series, in 4 parts, is part of the Great Courses. The author is a professor at the University of California at San Diego. Part 1 covers a general framework for considering the 20th century and then particular topics: World War I, the Paris Peace Treaties, the philosophies of Nietzsche and Freud, the post-war crisis of meaning, women’s change in role, the origins of “mass society”, the Great Depression, the ideology of Marx and Lenin, the rise of fascism, and the Communist revolution in Russia. Very interesting. I will likely continue to the next series.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall very interesting and informative. However, "democracy" was used to mean liberal capitalism, so in my mind the title would have been more apt as the struggle over liberal capitalism. I also found it a little annoying how the Radcliff avoided taking a stand--giving her position. Lastly certain speaking habits ("in other words") got to feel repetitive over time.

[Paulette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is lectures on CDs. I'm on part 3 of 4. Way interesting. So much of history was lost on me in HS and college. Now it all seems much more relevant.

[Joshout · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great meta view of the developments in the 20th century. Verry eloquent.