A Concise History of the Modern World: 1500 to the Present: A Guide to World Affairs, Fourth Edition

By investigating the major changes of world history during the past five hundred years, this book provides the necessary global perspective to understand the geopolitical and geoeconomic changes facing us today. We have reached a crucial transitional stage in world history in which the world will no longer be shaped by the single image of western modernism, but increasingly by the image of all cultures and civilizations. The need to take a world view - which this book provides - has become acute. This book investigates the major changes in world history and world economy during the past five hundred years. Its underlying theme is the struggle for power. Until the Rise of the West, and its incomparable impact on every branch of human activity, the center of the world lay in Asia. By the nineteenth century world power was firmly in the hands of the West. America's later rise to world status was prompted by the two world wars. With the other western powers in retreat, the United States is now blamed for all the excesses of western colonialism. It has become the prime target of international terrorism. Today there is a growing challenge to western domination and globalization. The much larger, but much poorer non-western world has begun to reassert itself. To understand the world around us, the global view is imperative. The dreadful terrorist attack on the United States on 11 September 2001, in which the US lost its sense of safety at home, confirms this. With this attack America's focus shifted from the nation to the world: national and international affairs are no longer divisible. It is the author's belief that we have reached a crucial transitional stage in world history, in which the world will no longer be shaped by the single image of western modernism, but also by the image of other cultures and civilizations. With the shift of world political and economic power to Asia, and with the growing world-wide influence of religious fundamentalism and revolutionary nationalism, the need for a global perspective has become acute. Extraordinarily well written, this book encompasses the learning and insights gleaned by the author from a lifetime career as a world historian

by Investigating The Major Changes Of World History During The Past Five Hundred Years, This Book Provides The Necessary Global Perspective To Understand The Geopolitical And Geoeconomic Changes Facing Us Today. We Have Reached A Crucial Transitional Stage In World History In Which The World Will No Longer Be Shaped By The Single Image Of Western Modernism, But Increasingly By The Image Of All Cultures And Civilizations. The Need To Take A World View--which This Book Provides--has Become Acute.

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delivering On The Promise Of A Concise History, Woodruff (emeritus, Economic History, U. Of Florida-gainesville) Surveys Five Centuries In Just Over 300 Pages--sans Notes, Bibliography, And Index. He Pursues The Machiavellian Theme Of The Lust For Power Determining World Affairs Rather Than Morality Or International Law, And Concludes Rather Ominously With The Contemporary Threat Of World Anarchy. This Edition Enlarges Upon That Of 1991, And Continues The Author's Work Begun In His Impact Of Western Man (1966). Annotation C. By Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

"The focus of this book is on the growing interdependence of the world community. By investigating the major changes in world history during the past five hundred years, Woodruff examines the extent to which global forces have been responsible for shaping both the past and the present."--BOOK JACKET.