About the book:
Ours has been the century of Einstein, but also of Hitler - of entertainers like the Beatles and saintly figures including Gandhi and Mother Teresa. This dramaticall y illustrated and highly readable survey chronicles the rise and fall of world power s, the dramatic advances in science and technology, and the unprecedented political, social, and cultural changes that have transformed the world. The account is divided into four periods: 1900-1914, an epilogue to the age of nineteenth-century Europea n empires; 1914-1945, dominated by the two world wars; 1946-1972, an era of expanded wealth and technological growth; and 1973 to the present, an age of ecological and social reforms.