The War of the World

The War of the World

History's Age of Hatred

Summary

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. Globalizing, 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 brutalized 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.

'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' Independent on Sunday

'The grenade lobbed into the cosy tea party of received wisdom' Max Hastings

'History at its most controversial ... no one can afford to overlook it' Allan Mallinson

Reviews

  • A heartbreaking, serious and thoughtful survey of human evil that is utterly fascinating and dramatic
    Simon Sebag Montefiore, The New York Times

About the author

Niall Ferguson

Niall Ferguson is one of Britain's most renowned historians. He is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard, and a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. His most recent book is The Square and the Tower.
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