Basic References on the 20th Century History

・Eisenstadt, S. N. Modernization : Protest and Change. Modernization of Traditional Societies Series. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1966.
-Modernization is an important theme in the 20th century history. This work provides an influential theoretical framework

・Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Extremes : A History of the World, 1914-1991 New York: Vintage Books 1996.
-The title itself is very suggestive. This work brings together the good and the horrible.

Hunt, Michael H., and Steven I. Levine. Arc of Empire : America’s Wars in Asia from the Philippines to Vietnam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012.
-If you think about the second half of the twentieth history, America was the dominant power. It is democratic but also warlike. This works critically describes the series of wars that America engaged from the Philippines to the Gulf War.

・Nugent, Walter T. K. Progressivism : A Very Short Introduction. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
-Americanism, whatever this means, sets the general tone of “better life” in the 20th century. In the US history, although still debated, started at the turn of the 19th/20th century.

・Roberts, J. M. Twentieth Century : The History of the World, 1901 to 2000. New York: Viking, 1999.
-Western Europe, or the West, is still in the news media and to a lesser extent in academia. The 19th century was the age of Euroepan empires. Along with them came many concepts still appreciated in many parts of the world, like human rights and democracy. The author describes history along this line.

・グラック, キャロル. 梅崎透訳.『歴史で考える』岩波書店, 2007.
–A collection of articles by Carol N. Gluck, tentatively translated as “Thinking thru history.” Strangely, this collection has not been published in English. It is only in Japanese. The way she describes the shift in historical narrative before and after the end of the cold war is really excellent.

・木畑洋一. 『２０世紀の歴史』 岩波書店, 2014.
–Kibata Yoichi’s small book, entitled directly as “A history of the 20th century.” Although it is a short work, this really tries to ply open a new perspective on the 20th century by placing “modern colonialism” at the center of the historical narraitve.