Twentieth Century World History: A Canadian Perspective - Softcover

Duiker, William J.

9780176251543: Twentieth Century World History: A Canadian Perspective

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0176251545 ISBN 13: 9780176251543

Publisher: Nelson College Indigenous, 2006

This text presents a comprehensive, balanced history of the world in the twentieth century. In addition to providing a chronicle of the key events in this revolutionary century, it takes a global approach to examining the underlying issues that have shaped the times. At the same time, it does justice to the distinctive character of individual civilizations and regions. Political, economic, social, and cultural history are integrated into a chronologically ordered synthesis that is presented through a consistent, engaging single-author narrative.

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About the Author:

William J. Duiker is liberal arts Professor Emeritus of East Asian studies at The Pennsylvania State University. A former U.S. diplomat with service in Taiwan, South Vietnam, and Washington, D.C., he received his doctorate in Far Eastern history from Georgetown University. At Penn State, he has written extensively on the history of Vietnam and modern China, including the highly acclaimed COMMUNIST ROAD TO POWER IN VIETNAM (revised edition, Westview Press, 1996), which was selected for a Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award in 1982?1983 and 1996?1997. Other books are CHINA AND VIETNAM: THE ROOTS OF CONFLICT (Berkeley, 1987), U.S. CONTAINMENT POLICY AND THE CONFLICT IN INDOCHINA (Stanford, 1995), SACRED WAR: NATIONALISM AND REVOLUTION IN A DIVIDED VIETNAM (McGraw-Hill, 1995), and HO CHI MINH (Hyperion, 2000), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2001. While his research specialization is in the field of nationalism and Asian revolutions, his intellectual interests are considerably more diverse. He has traveled widely and has taught courses on the history of communism and non-Western civilizations at Penn State, where he was awarded a Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the spring of 1996.

Review:

"... my primary reason for adoption is that it is the best text out there at this moment. ..."

"The text uses an economy of words to cover an extremely broad period of history. ... This textbook provides students with the bare essentials in a readable, digestible format. ... "Reflections" is a particularly impressive feature of the textbook."

"Organization is, I believe, one of the real strengths of this book. It is clear that the author has had considerable hands-on teaching experience, and this shows in the text's organization. A newly minted faculty person could teach from this book even if it is the first course he or she ever had to prepare."

"In Duiker's books, I have always shared and appreciated his goal of trying to get across to Western readers more of an Asian perspective, to get the reader to see other sides of a topic or event. I therefore felt assured ahead of time that, although I made my textbook decision without vast research into all the available 20th-century texts, I thought this text would be a good bet. I was not disappointed. �ƒ�'�‚¢�ƒ�€š�‚�€�ƒ�€š�‚¦ this text constitutes a superb guidebook to the past century. The author has synthesized and summarized a great deal of complex material in a masterful way."

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