A History of the Twentieth Century

By: Martin Gilbert

Narrated by: John Curless

Martin Gilbert, author of the multivolume biography of Winston Churchill and other brilliant works of history, chronicles world events year by year, from the dawn of aviation to the flourishing technology age, taking us through World War I to the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt as president of the United States and Hider as chancellor of Germany. He continues on to document wars in South Africa, China, Ethiopia, Spain, Korea, Vietnam, and Bosnia, as well as apartheid, the arms race, the moon landing, and the beginnings of the computer age, while interspersing the influence of art, literature, music, and religion throughout this vivid work. A rich, textured look at war, celebration, suffering, life, death, and renewal in the century gone by, this volume is nothing less than extraordinary.

©2001 Martin Gilbert (P)2006 Recorded Books, LLC

History for the Distracted

Chrono-mini treatment of an entire 100 years on the planet. Very little perspective other than how persistent genocide was. When I heard the JFK assassination was supposedly committed by a “lone deranged gunman,” thus further indicating the lack of depth in the scholarship, I considered stopping. Yet I persisted. Valuable if one already at least moderately familiar with the period is looking for a definite timeline and random unrealized factoids along the way.

Super Straightforward

Would you listen to A History of the Twentieth Century again? Why?

Absolutely. The book is pretty dense so there is room for a few listens here.

What did you like best about this story?

This was one of the most unique audio books I've ever listened to. There is absolutely no analysis. Instead it is a complete narration of events as they occurred. While this can be a bit strange at times it really does give a unique feeling of how the century progressed. It was kind of like watching a news reel.

What about John Curless’s performance did you like?

His unwavering, almost monotone voice was perfect for the style of this book.

An excellent précis of the 20tg Century

This was an excellent book narrated in an easy to listen to style. As someone born in 1950 it brought back memories and extended my knowledge of what went on worldwide between 1900-1999. Highly recommended, but glad I finished the whole thing.

A Focus on the Facts with Minimal Commentary

What made the experience of listening to A History of the Twentieth Century the most enjoyable?

Getting a breakdown of events across the globe decade by decade gives the listener a unique perspective on major happenings (mostly catastrophes) of the century. After finishing this work, one can see how difficult it is for modern historians to sort through the sheer volume of information to find some thread of reason behind it all.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A History of the Twentieth Century?

As I lover of world history, I was surprised to find so many critical details I had previously missed. For example, other works originally led me to think that WWI was sort of everyone's fault. 'However, after listening to a blow by blow progression of events the Kaiself himself seems to deserve most of the blame. . In addition, I had no idea that so much upheval occurred in the Soviet Union during the interwar period.

What aspect of John Curless’s performance would you have changed?

He kind of grows on you after a few hours, but I initially felt that he wasn't enunciating properly. He does well with pronunciation and really deserves at least 3.5 stars.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, its fairly engaging but you really should limit yourself to one decade a day. Otherwise its easy to lose focus and end up Leopold's Congo thinking that the author is still discussing Republican China.

Any additional comments?

I think this work should have been shortened to only focus on its strong points_ politics, international relations and war. The terse references to developments in science, art and popular culture also seemed somewhat out of place,One other thing I could have done without was the author's bizarre obsession with automobile-related fatalities for which he provides almost yearly statistics.

We get it. The roads are dangerous.

The book was interesting, there's no denying that. However, I thought it was quite odd what the author chose to include and exclude. The part about the Korean War was excellent and is often excluded in books of this nature but statistics for road deaths are included at least 10 times, despite having no relevance to the story. Idi Amin, Amelia Earhart, FDR's health, and just about anything happening in South America or Africa weren't included at all or were given less than two minutes. I loved the format of the story but wish it wasn't so Eurocentric and so focused on wars as opposed to important cultural moments, which got almost no attention past the 1920s. Additionally, I had hoped the author would spend more time on stories that weren't so well known so I could have listened for 30 hours and come away feeing like I learned something.

Clear and concise description of history.

Provided a clear and concise description of history in methodical manner. Of course their were aspects of historical significance left out, but covered the bulk of the most significant and not so mentioned (car fatalities) aspects that shaped our modern time.

More interested in war than economic development

Very informative in terms of human rights and the balls wars and conflicts of the twentieth century. However, if you're interested in consumerism, living standards, and disposable time and income, this book is a disappointment.

Solid Review of the 20th century

I really appreciated the author's attention to detail and coverage of so many different events, figures, inventions, and countries in this very significant century.

A monumental achievement.

Where does A History of the Twentieth Century rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Certainly among the tops. World history is covered year by year, and recounts many of the most significant events and cultural milestones from across the globe. If you like history, this is a terrific work. The reader is excellent.

I have a couple of criticisms specific to the audiobook production:-- It's hard to keep track of what year is being covered, which is a real issue given that the book deals with 100 years. This wouldn't be a problem in the print version, but it's a very distracting issue in the audio version. I'm constantly rewinding to find the year mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. a task complicated by the fact that audio chapters don't correspond to book chapters, and there's no labeling in the audible chapter list. It's aggravating, and adds a lot of unnecessary time. I wish there some sort of reminder added in along the way, e.g., "Also in 1923..."

[BTW, I am always annoyed by the lack of chapter labeling in audiobooks, but one rarely contends with 100 chapters.]. Often the transition from one story to the next is too quick, so from time to time, you'll be part way into the next event before you realize you've moved from one country to another. Given that the reader's pace is very well modulated, I suspect that this was a time-shaving editing decision.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The author, for having the talent and patience to successfully make sense of 100 years of world history.

What about John Curless’s performance did you like?

Clear, with a really good sense of what to highlight emotionally.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Massive wars, revolutionary technologies, a world communicating for the first time in history... here's the story of the century that changed humankind.

Any additional comments?

It's hard to think of another source that covers so much in such a concise and understandable way.

I didn't know that.

I have always been a history buff, but this has opened my eye to a lot of 'hidden' history. I have not managed to listen to the whole book yet, but I currently live in Ukraine and have surprised some of my Ukrainian friends by knowing more of their history than they do. Also taking the history year by year puts things into proportion.