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The War of the World

History's Age of Hatred

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The War of the World

By: Niall Ferguson
Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
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About this listen

Penguin presents the unabridged edition of The War of the World by Niall Ferguson, read by Saul Reichlin.

The world at the beginning of the 20th century seemed for most of its inhabitants stable and relatively benign. Globalising, booming economies married to technological breakthroughs seemed to promise a better world for most people.

Instead the 20th century proved to be overwhelmingly the most violent, frightening and brutalised in history, with fanatical, often genocidal warfare engulfing most societies between the outbreak of the First World War and the end of the Cold War.

What went wrong? How did we do this to ourselves? The War of the World comes up with compelling, fascinating answers. It is Niall Ferguson's masterpiece.

©2017 Niall Ferguson (P)2017 Penguin Audio 20th Century Military Modern World War Imperialism Russia Socialism Thought-Provoking Soviet Union Middle Ages Africa Middle East Self-Determination Imperial Japan Interwar Period Winston Churchill Latin American Cold War Holocaust Capitalism Iran

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Critic reviews

"A heartbreaking, serious and thoughtful survey of human evil that is utterly fascinating and dramatic." (Simon Sebag Montefiore, The New York Times)
"Unputdownable, controversial, compelling." ( The Independent on Sunday)
"The grenade lobbed into the cosy tea party of received wisdom." (Max Hastings)
All stars
Most relevant
A refreshing look at familiar areas of history.

Ferguson has an uncanny ability to gore sacred cows without seeming disrespectful. Reichlin's reading lends an emphasis and drama to the text arguably necessary for such weighty material in an audiobook.

Thoroughly enjoyable for those already familar with twentieth century history.

Excellent book. Well read.

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A reminder of the scale and horror of war not "so long ago". Masterful, insightful and spell binding.

The Horror of War

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Pretty much the modern history of the world and what a bunch of thoroughly awful humans we all are or have the potential to be …..
Watched the tv series about 15 years ago and bought the book at the time . Thanks to audible I’ve now “read” it in a week .

Well that explains it !

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Like so many people, I thought I knew what happened in the two world wars.

But this book goes into such granular detail and creates a compelling narrative that helped me realise I had only a superficial understanding of it all.

Niall’s clear writing style and depth of knowledge helped me make sense of the current conflicts in Ukraine and The Middle East.

A must read for anyone trying to make sense of the current conflict’s in the 21st century.

For all the history you didn’t know about the 20th century.

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what an amazing detailed insight into the last century of warfare. very informative. an eye-opener.

outstanding

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