Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Eighties

by Paul Johnson

Johnsonovo dílo DĚJINY 20. STOLETÍ je strhující příběh tohoto úděsného věku velkých technických vynálezů, ohromného bohatství i nekonečné bídy a teroru. Knížka vzbudila velký rozruch na Západě nejen proto, že je mistrně napsána, ale hlavně tím, jak nemilosrdně odhaluje pravdu, všem levicovým intelektuálům tak nepohodlnou. Všude, kde se prosadil ideologický stát, vládne korupce myšlení, útlak, teror. Všude, kde stát zasahuje do tržního mechanismu či se dokonce stává neosobním "majitelem" hospodářství, vládnou úplatky, demoralizace a bída. Johnson si neklade žádné meze, jde-li o fakta. Rudá nit teroru se odvíjí v Africe, Asii i Latinské Americe za nepřežitého potlesku západních intelektuálů. Podstatu zla však vidí autor v morálním relativismu, který po celá desetiletí brání liberální demokracii, aby zvítězila. DĚJINY 20. STOLETÍ, jež vydáváme v mistrném překladu Jana Čulíka, jsou nepostradatelnou učebnicí moderní historiografie.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, 20th Century, American History, World History, Politics, The World

817 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1985

About the author

Paul Johnson works as a historian, journalist and author. He was educated at Stonyhurst School in Clitheroe, Lancashire and Magdalen College, Oxford, and first came to prominence in the 1950s as a journalist writing for, and later editing, the New Statesman magazine. He has also written for leading newspapers and magazines in Britain, the US and Europe.

Paul Johnson has published over 40 books including A History of Christianity (1979), A History of the English People (1987), Intellectuals (1988), The Birth of the Modern: World Society, 1815—1830 (1991), Modern Times: A History of the World from the 1920s to the Year 2000 (1999), A History of the American People (2000), A History of the Jews (2001) and Art: A New History (2003) as well as biographies of Elizabeth I (1974), Napoleon (2002), George Washington (2005) and Pope John Paul II (1982).

Reviews

[Carol Storm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tory historian wishes the modern world would just go away!

This is one of the most brilliant, readable, and exciting history books I have ever read. Paul Johnson does a worldwide survey of the wars and upheavals of the 20th century, covering whole continents in alternating chapters. With thrilling scope, he goes from tribal wars in Africa to the defeat of Germany to the rise of Hitler to militarism in Japan, and then back to Prohibition in the USA, Roosevelt and the New Deal . . . all the time connecting up events to show the general worldwide trends towards state control, tyranny, and mass propaganda.

The only problem is, Paul Johnson is an English Tory who just doesn't want to concede that any of what went wrong in the 20th century can be blamed on beloved institutions like the monarchy and the church. He focuses on the crimes of the revolutionaries in every nation, without ever acknowledging the failures of the ruling class. Instead of presenting Hitler's Jewish policies as the natural -- and indeed inevitable -- result of 2000 years of Christian anti-Semitism, Johnson actually bemoans the loss of Church power as the real cause of the tragedy!

Paul Johnson writes history the way Mel Gibson makes movies -- the excitement and the pageantry are all there, but underneath you sense a guy who really, really hates Jews, homosexuals, black, Orientals, social progressives, and women.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked most about this history was Johnson's description of how matters stood before "modern times", particularly his description of the prodigies of walking customarily performed by our ancestors. The rest of the book strongly conveys the sense that its author is very conservative--which indeed Johnson is, being both a Conservative British journalist and a believing Catholic. Although I find this occasionally off-putting, he is a very good writer and his books have generally been enjoyable as popular histories.

[Stanley Hanks · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a left-leaning person like me, it's a thoroughly unsettling experience to read history through Paul Johnson's eyes. He is an economic liberal (say, in the Thatcher sense of the term). His history of the 20th century is brimming on every page with insight and unexpected connections. His two main points are that the evils of the 20th century are rooted in "moral relativism", which leads to State experimentation in "social engineering" on vast scales that cause millions of deaths and untold suffering. He has a point, but as an antidote I soon want to read Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine", which picks up pretty much where Paul Johnson left off, but tells a completely different story.

[JEAN-PHILIPPE PEROL · Rating 1 out of 5]

A totaly useless book. Far from the facts, always giving one side and simple version of all the main events of the century, it looks more like a neo-cons 101 manual than like an actual history book.

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paul Johnson’s analysis of modern history (in Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Eighties) is perceptive and cogent and very readable. His world view is strongly free-market and pro-individual freedom, so I personally appreciated and agreed with his conclusions, but readers who subscribe to a more collectivist world view and desire a world run by big government attempts at social engineering would find Johnson’s analysis less agreeable. The book is dense and meaty, and requires its readers to approach the text with a fair amount of pre-existing knowledge of historical events; Johnson continually alludes to people and events with which he expects his readers to be familiar. This is not a book for beginners. Also, I read the original edition of the book, published in 1983. Johnson has subsequently published updated versions that continue his analysis of world events through the twenty years that have elapsed since then. When I finished Modern Times, I found myself wishing I had read the most recently updated edition, as I would have been interested in reading Johnson’s take on history from the Ronald Reagan years to now.

[Adrian Colesberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first historical book I ever read that wasn't assigned by a teacher. I felt so grown up reading through this book. It's based on an interesting take on modernity: when it started in particular. It is in no way an alternative history. It's very much concerned with politics and wars, but I was a young boy and that was just fine with me.

[Dann Zinke · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent history of the horrors of statism in the modern era. Lots of information here that I didn't know including:
-How messy Japanese politics were pre-WWII
-That President Wilson was a puppet of his administration during the end of his last term
-The proxy wars fought in Africa by the Soviet satellite nations
-A hot take that the Berlin Wall going up was a failure on Kennedy's part (author argues that Eisenhower would have never let it happen)
-A hot take that American failure in Vietnam was part of the fallout after the political collusion to oust Nixon
-The German miracle of rebuilding after WWII, including the gift of a solid trade union framework from Britain.

Overall a very worthwhile read. Deducted one star because the author's "hopeful" ending was basically pointing to anthropological insights recently gained in sociobiology and saying "the more we know about ourselves a a species maybe we will be less likely to repeat our mistakes? Let's hope?"

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the great history books, written as only Paul Johnson could write it. My second time reading this book, and it's still informative, even though (full disclosure) there is a later edition, updated to cover the 90s. Mr. Johnson is a hard-nosed realist whose thesis is that totalitarian governments and dictators have without exception wrecked every civilization and country they have touched during the 20th century, and he proves it--not to mention their indiscriminate murder of around 100 million innocent people along the way. You are not apt to find incisive analysis like Johnson's anywhere else, and I recommend this book (or the newer edition) to anyone who yearns for an objective view of the last 100+ years.

[Wendy Rabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this book with our home school reading group, and I was particularly struck by the bloodiness of modern history. Communism, fascism, socialism, philosophies of government aimed at manmade utopias on earth, inevitably end up killing people in unimaginable numbers. This book was also a reminder, in the face of today's troubling times, that our country has come through difficult straits in the past. While the downward spiral seems inevitable, God's people still have a powerful role and can be used by God to hold back evil around them.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book on 20th century history I have ever read (I've read quite a few). It is very well-written, clear and easy to follow. The author gives enough detail but not too much. The emphasis is on analysis of the "how" and "why" rather than the "what" . The book would suit someone who is already familiar with the history of the period but also someone who knows very little.

I have more now read the first edition published in 1983 and the second edition published in 1992.

I look forward to reading other books by this author.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A breathtaking book that covers major historical events/trends from the twenties to the eighties. Paul Johnson manages somehow to tie everything together and present it in a package that makes sense and is a terrific read. It's not for the faint of heart however, each page is densely packed with information that takes terribly long to digest, but the effort is well worth it.

[Steven Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good synthesis of the economic, political, and demographic threads of history... to a point. I was much more convinced in the early part of the book, when the narrative was less familiar. By the time Johnson started to cover events of my lifetime, I could feel his conservative agenda pressing on the description of events much more strongly, and it was distracting.

[Joseph Crampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

According to my professor at Liberty University this is the best introduction to the twentieth century ever written. Paul Johnson's introduction to and analysis of the "gangster statesmen" of Stalin, Hitler, and Mao brings the century into focus.

[Lou]

"Throughout these years, the power of the state to do evil expanded with awesome speed. It's power to do good grew slowly and ambiguously,"
---Paul Johnson

Sounds like a 'fun' read...

[Jim Razinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

My edition is through the Eighties. Paul Johnson writes tomes of history, and this is no exception. The topic is broad, and he covers a lot, but with enough depth to satisfy.

[Gregarious · Rating 5 out of 5]

The least hysterical historian
Brilliant.

[Henry Sturcke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deft narrative touch.

[Belle Meade School]

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