What Everyone Should Know About the 20th Century: 200 Events That Shaped the World

by Alan Axelrod, Charles Phillips

From the Wright Brothers to the election of Nelson Mandela, this engaging, reader-friendly compendium--from the authors of the enormously successful What Every American Should Know about American History--provides capsule summaries of the 200 most important events in world history since 1900.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

300 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

Alan Axelrod, Ph.D., is a prolific author of history, business and management books. As of October 2018, he had written more than 150 books, as noted in an online introduction by Lynn Ware Peek before an interview with Axelrod on the National Public Radio station KPCW. Axelrod resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

Reviews

[Luke · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 out of 5

Should have been subtitled, “200 events that shaped the world plus our delightfully unbiased commentary on them”

[HeavyReader]

I got this book off a free shelf in a laundromat, and I’ve been enjoying flipping through it and reading about 20th century history bit by bit.

I like the way the book is structured. Each one of the “200 Events That Shaped the World” is its own little story, a jumping off point for the authors to explain the significance of people and events. This structure allows the reader to move from “The United States Goes to War with Spain (1898)” to “Benito Mussolini Comes to Power in Spain (1922”) to “The U.S. Surgeon General Warns about the Hazards of Cigarette Smoking (1964)” with no confusion. The book is half size, and each significant event is typically summed up in less than two pages.

The writing is engaging and accessible, meant for a general audience and not just for history majors. However, history majors would do well to keep this book on hand as a reference source, as well as something that’s interesting to read in short sittings. (Bathroom reading, anyone?)

Even after I’ve read entries for all 200 world shaping events, I plan to keep this book on hand, for reference, and for the times when I want to read a little but don’t want to get sucked into a novel.

[Becky Hintz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is exactly what it says it is: 200 events, laid out consecutively, each introduced with a one-paragraph summary, followed by a 1-to-4-page explanation of the event, its context, and its significance. So good so far. The first 2/3 is very strong, but when it comes to more recent events the authors simply cannot help inserting their own opinions, reading more like a left-wing PBS screed than a simple description of the facts on the ground. Also, as the book was written in the late 90's, the analysis of the events of that decade lack perspective and are at times laughably myopic. Still, this is a great book to keep on hand wherever you do your short bursts of reading.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of essays that kept me going. However, the severe left-leaning political views of the authors left a sour taste.