About this title: Ferguson reinterprets the modern era and the central paradox of why unprecedented progress coincided with unprecedented violence, and why the seeming triumph of the West bore the seeds of its undoing.
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9781594201004ISBN:1594201005
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2007-10-30
ISBN-13:9780143112396ISBN:0143112392
Description: Fair. Acceptable Condition! Ex-library copy with normal library markings. Glossy cover with tight binding and clean pages! Moderate to heavy corner/edge/shelf wear. Few creases/bends to cover. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Press
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9781594201004ISBN:1594201005
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 808 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: New. 1594201005 *NEW* Hardcover with DJ. Fresh from the distributor. Has remainder mark on edge and may have light ink smudge on edge. read more
Description: New. 1594201005 Brand NEW ~ Hardcover with beautiful Dust Jacket ~ possibly slightest shelf-wear ~ all books carefully examined & well packaged. read more
Edition: First American Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Penquin Books
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9781594201004ISBN:1594201005
Description: Good+ in Good + jacket. Size: 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall; Good + condition. NO slant to spine. Clean, tight copy, there is some moisture damage on bk. of book, last third of the pages are slightly damaged in upper corner from the spill. Otherwise, pages are clean, crisp and tight unmarked. Dj. has light moisture damge on bk., No tears. First 3/4 pages new looking. read more
Edition: First Printing
Binding: hardbound
Publisher: Penguin, New York
Date Published: (2006)
ISBN-13:9781594201004ISBN:1594201005
Description: Very good minus, bottom corners slightly bumped. 808pp, Very lightly edgeworn jacket. Spine wrinkled, probably from weight of pages. Heavy book may require extra shipping. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: THE PENGUIN PRESS, NEW YORK
Date Published: 2006
Description: NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATORS. Hardbound First Edition published by THE PENGUIN PRESS (New York) in 2006. 808 pages of clean, bright, illustrated text. The interior is unblemished. The publication is new and unread. The illustrations are black and white graphs, maps, war deaths, etc. The covers are cranberry in color with a light brown spine. The Title as well as the Author's names are embossed into the spine in bright silver. The covers and the spine are unblemished. The front panel of the dust ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780143112396ISBN:0143112392
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: 1st Printing
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Books, New York
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780143112396ISBN:0143112392
Description: As New. 8vo-7¾"-9¾" tall, Trade paperback. 808 pages including Appendix, Notes, Sources and Bibliography, and Index. Illustrated with b/w photos, maps and drawings. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Date Published: 2007-10-30
ISBN-13:9780143112396ISBN:0143112392
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780143112396. read more
"Niall Ferguson writes thick history books with controversial ideas. His argued in the Pity of War that Britain should have just sat out World War One and dealt with a German dominated Europe. In Colossus, he put forth the idea that the world needs America to be a real empire, but believed the country isn't up to the tasks. One of more recent books is War of the World which explores the incredibly violent 20th century. His argument is that the break up of empires and the expansion of the national/ethnic idea fuel the intense ferocity of century's killing.
So many American books about the war focus on the technology, whether it be aircraft carriers, tanks or planes. That's fine, it is how Americans tend to look at things. It also tends to make the conflict seem a bit more bloodless. This ship sank, forty planes were destroyed. We know that people died when we read this, but it removes the horror of it somewhat.
None of that for Ferguson. He goes straight down to the village level. He shows the remarkable breadth of the cruelty in the century. We've tended to focus all of our horror on the Holocaust. This makes sense as it is a uniquely terrible series of events, but our focus has obscured all else that happened and even the share of guilt in the Holocaust. Germans, naturally, get the blame for the Holocaust, but Ferguson shows the horrid but willing participation of many other Europeans.
He also shows the incredible terrors and evil of Stalin's regime, the terrors of bombing, the Japanese atrocities in China, the fate of African-Americans in the early 20th century and more. It makes for fairly grim reading. Thankfully, Ferguson is a strong and often witty writer, which alleviates the sadness quite a bit.
One strange bit is the subtitle. It is called the Descent of the West. He doesn't really support the declinist idea in the book, which is too bad, as it is certainly on the tops of peoples minds.
Thanks to that problem and a fair amount of bloat, I have to say that The War of the World isn't Ferguson's best book, but it remains a good, if dark, read."
"An outstanding and fascinating history of conflict in the twentieth century. One of his focuses is on the major role of ethnic hatred as a cause of war. His view may be a little extreme, but I learned a tremendous amount reading the book."
"This is, by far, Niall Ferguson's most dangerous book. In what many believe to be a far-flung example of historical revisionism, Ferguson attempts to explain the 20th Century as one long episode of racial conflict. In the process, the line is often blurred as to who the heroes and villains of the century actually were. Ferguson's critique of the allied forces at the end of the WWII might leave a good many allied vets more than a little chafed. This book also takes a foray into interpretive history, which is one of Ferguson's passions, but again may leave the civilized westerner a bit cold in the end. If you would like to believe that conventional history's take on the 20th Century is flawed, then this is the book for you. As for me and my house, I'll stick with the classic story."
"Very dense, detailed and disturbing examination about the 20th Century and the author's contention that essentially one global war existed and was fought from the turn of the 20th through the Iraq involvement. Ferguson is not very optimistic."
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