Chronicle of the 20th Century: The Ultimate Record of Our Times

by Clifton Daniel (Editor), John W. Kirshon

Our amazing, tumultuous century of change rendered in brilliant "you-are-there" style. Witness wars and peace, the race in space, and the rise of the skyscraper!

Genres: History, Reference, Nonfiction, World History, Historical, The World

1486 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Steven Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know what, this is a great coffee table book. It is exactly the kind of book you want to put out for guests to see for creating just the right impression. It's not as stuffy as putting a Oxford Dictionary out on display and speaks more highly than a compendium from Mad Magazine.

That said, this book lives up to its name. It has well over 1,000 pages of short articles chronicling the 20th century. It would make a great bathroom book if it were smaller; but because of its unwieldy size, I guess you'll need to aim at the coffee table, the room in which your children study, or in your office.

No matter which room you place this book in, it comes highly recommended.

[Keeley Hobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chronicle of the 20th Century is absolutely brilliant. My Dad has owned this book since 1995 (literally my whole life) but for some reason I never bothered to touch it. I picked it up the other day and was immediately hooked - I've never seen a book like this before.

The book presents major events and stories from every month in the 1900's and all stories are taken from articles that were published by The Chronicle. I've learnt so much history and I love the way you read the articles in real time as if it were the present tense. It's like a step back in time.

I haven't read the entire book as it's well over 1000 articles but it's one that I will definitely try and complete one day. In the meantime it's great to flick through as a reference book for the 20th Century. 5 stars

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was amazing to see such a large collection of newspaper articles that included photographs. Each month has a list of important events, including births and deaths, and I love looking through the book periodically. The only problem I have with it is that it stops at 1987. There's a lot that happened in the 13 years that are missing and I wish it was published in 2000 instead. Otherwise, it's a great reference book.

[bin bons luvr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've owned this for literally 5 years, and I still find new things everytime I look at it. In grade 7 I read through it all, and yet I manage to see aspects I never have before.

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting collection of stories and a handy reference and coffee table book.

[Bevan Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so excited when I got the 1990 edition of this book. As a young history buff it was full of detail to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of modern history. I love the way it describes events in the present tense, and provides a 'point in time' perspective. Of course there are lots of topics it would be nice to see full articles on (even though the book is already enormous!), and I would have to say it is difficult to follow through on successive events sometimes. That said, a great reference book and a pleasure to dip into - I learnt a lot from it. The 2000 edition (published in the US) is good to fill in the last ten years of the 20th century.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think he should have waited until 1998 or 1999 to put this out instead of 1987. I purchased this used from a thrift shop so that my children could get a good view of the 20th century from newspaper headlines. It is useful until 1987 and then--nothing!

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Month by month account of the 20th century, with each major event described in the style of a newspaper article.

[Andre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a massive book. I was impressed that it uses newspaper articles to tell the activities and stories of each year of the 20th Century.

[Chris King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reproductions of newspaper pages / articles from the days when important historical events happened, so you read about them real time, not through the lens of time.

[Matthew Simon Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly epic book.

[Cris Mcgrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it; every word cover to cover. Yes a large book, but full of information and facts.

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

RTC

[FranklinTV · Rating 3 out of 5]

Referring to the Australian version, a thick coffee table book of key newspaper summaries of things from 1900-1989.

[William Vaughn · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a study reference it reads like a newspaper, A right out of the headlines, you were there kind of feel. I use it all the time!

[Jill Porter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource book of the 20th century.