Headlines In History: The 1900’s, by James Miller, Bonnie Szumski, and Scott Barbour, editors
This volume is definitely a disappointing end to an excellent series. Instead of the excellence reached by most other volumes of this series [1] [2] [3] [4] [5], this volume is as bad as the volume on the 1700’s, but in a different way. The real problems with this volume are in organization, focus, and approach. That said, it’s a shame the series ends so badly, especially given that the same book editor who edited this edited the very competent volume on the 1800’s as well [5]. What went wrong here?
It’s not the articles that are included that are the problem–as the articles are excellent, standing up to the best of the series. The focus of the volume as a whole is a serious problem, though, as it focuses on political and military history of the most cliched kind, with very few pieces that add religious or cultural history to the mix (though those articles do their topics justice). An additional and serious problem is the fact that the book, alone of the series, is organized purely chronologically without any attempt to organize by theme. Perhaps the confidence of the editors failed them as they did not wish to combine nationalistic revolts, or the threat of totalitarianism, or the cultural effects of “openness” on various parts of the world. Instead everything is ruthlessly organized, hitting most of the high points with few surprises.
The book is divided by date into nine sections. The first section examines the period from 1900-1914, starting with a thoughtful excerpt from Henry Adams about the Law of Acceleration, moving on to an excellent piece on the promise of the new century by Barbara Tuchman (most famous for her history of the 14th century called A Distant Mirror), followed by a piece on the suffragette movement and an essay on the Mexican Revolution and its horribly destructive results. The second chapter, not surprisingly, focuses on World War I, with an essay on the causes of that war, an excerpt from Erich Maria Remarque’s classic All Quiet On The Western Front, an essay on the ruthlessness of Lenin in Russia’s October Revolution, and a primary document of interest–Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points.
The third section focuses on the interwar period in the West, with a revisionist essay on the much-maligned Treaty of Versailles, an excellent paper on the Physics revolution of the early 20th century, and a depressing examination of the corrosive effect of unemployment. The fourth section then comments on the totalitarian challenge in the West, with a primary document from Benito Moussolini where he defines the importance of the state to fascism (and shows a great hostility to individualism), an article on the character and ambitions of Adolf Hitler, a depressing account of starvation in the Ukraine and then another depressing examination of the complicity of Soviet citizens in Stalin’s terror (both by historian Robert Conquest), followed by a puff piece by overrated historian Arthur M. Schlessinger Jr. on “the middle way” of the New Deal between socialism and capitalism. The fifth section examines the terrible years between 1931 and 1945 in Asia, with a look at the coming of the Pacific War, a naive (read: sympathetic) account of a French historian on the Peasant Revolution in China, a primary source of interviews collected about settling scores in a postwar Chinese village, and a thoughtful essay on the importance of Ghandi’s nonviolent ethic.
The sixth section focuses on World War II, unsurprisingly, with an excerpt by Winston Churchill on the Battle of Britain, a depressing account of the revolutionary nature of the Holocaust, a sad and poignant last letter from a German soldier at Stalingrad, an intriguing and quirky account of how Albert Einstein got involved in a conspiracy of Hungarian exile scientists to overcome the German effort at creating the world’s first atomic bomb, and a thoughtful examination of Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan. The seventh section examines the early Cold War years from 1945 to 1969, with a provocative and well-argued essay from John Lewis Gaddis that places the blame for the Cold War on the Russians, an essay that examines Rock & Roll and the youth culture of the 1950’s, Dwight Eisenhower’s speech on the military-industrial complex, a gripping account of the tense days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and a New York Times front page article on the moon landing.
The eighth section focuses on the revolt against hegemony between 1960 and 1980, with an essay about Martin Luther King Jr.’s time in the Birmingham jail, an essay about the end of colonialism and its failed promises in Africa, an essay on the Cultural Revolution in China, some excerpts from Mao Zedong’s “Little Black Book,” an account of the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War, an examination of the crises of October 1973–the Yom Kippur War, Oil, and Watergate, closing with an excellent but depressing account of Fundamentalist Islam’s hostility towards the West, and its basis in irrationality and injured pride. The ninth and final section examines the end of the 20th century, with a piece on the fall of Communism, Vaclav Havel’s excellent 1990 New Year’s Day address, a piece from the Economist on South Africa after Apartheid, and a superlatively depressing piece on the technological revolution of the 20th century, the complete lack of moral thoughtfulness that has gone with it, and the probable collusion between business and scientific elites and corrupt and oppressive governments that ensure low wages, a docile population of workers, and no environmental protection.
In examining the articles of the book, it is clear that the biggest problem of the book is its unrelenting depressing quality, whether one looks at the destructive effects of revolutions in Mexico and China, the horrors of trench warfare or the Holocaust or Stalin’s purges or the tense conflict between the Soviet Union and the West or the blasted hopes that resulted from the end of colonialism and Communism and Apartheid or the moral decay of the West, of the scientific community, or the loss of dignity that comes when one’s culture is made obsolete or one faces prolonged joblessness. The book is one depressing story after another, with only a few rare glimpses of hope, and most of those of resolution against terror (such as Churchill’s essay on the Battle of Britain). The book as a whole is a collection of essays about decay, destruction, and depression of various kinds, all rainy days and gloominess and almost no sunshine whatsoever. Where did it all go wrong? It is clear from the articles in this book, though, that the editors of this series appear pessimistic about the prospects of a volume on the 21st century. One can hardly blame them, but it would have been nice for them to offer slightly more optimism, at least.
[1] http://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011/02/10/book-review-headlines-in-history-the-1000s/
[3] http://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011/01/26/book-review-headlines-in-history-the-1500s/
[4] http://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011/02/15/book-review-headlines-in-history-the-1600s/
[5] http://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011/02/24/book-review-headlines-in-history-the-1800s/
