8.6 /10 1 Votes
Country United Kingdom Pages 882 (1999 edition) | 4.3/5 Goodreads Language English Originally published 1983 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Subject 20th century politics and culture ISBN 0-75380-826-9 (1999 edition) Similar Paul Johnson books, World history books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Modern Times: A History of the World from the 1920s to the 1980s is a book by British journalist and writer Paul Johnson, who gives an outline of world history during the 20th century from a conservative perspective. It was cited in the National Review as one of the top ten books that changed America and is described as a book that has "influenced intellectual thinking on a profound level". It was first published in 1983 and has since been reissued and updated.
Contents
Summary
Johnson describes world history beginning with the aftermath of World War I, and ending with the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe.
In the first part of the book Johnson deals mainly with the shaping of the Soviet Union in the first decades after World War I, the collapse of democracy in Central Europe due to the rise of Fascism and National Socialism, the causes that led to World War II, and its development and outcome. He devotes a chapter ("An Infernal Theocracy, a Celestial Chaos") to the development of Imperial Japan and the chaotic situation within China during the Warlord Era.
In roughly the second half of the book Johnson deals with the post-World War II events: the Cold War, the end of colonialism and the simultaneous birth of the Third World concept, the rise of the People's Republic of China and of independent India, the reconstruction and economic boom in post-war Europe, and the rise of the East Asian Tigers.
Worldview
Modern Times, as most of Johnson's works, is written in a narrative style with a political bent. Johnson is a conservative Catholic and generally treats secular ideologies in a hostile manner. Throughout the book he criticizes all forms of radical political reform, which he calls "experiments in social engineering", and several of its chapters are devoted to strong criticism of extremist politicians, including Nazis and fascists, and also left-wing figures such as Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong, whom the author deems as vicious as Adolf Hitler.
The author is clear that he views that most of the evils of the twentieth century as a consequence of the replacement of the traditional Judeo-Christian values with secular ideologies, whose influence he deems disastrous. Johnson is also a strong supporter of freemarket capitalism, which bolsters his hostility towards Communism. He also portrays famous Third World politicians, even icons like Mohandas K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, as frivolous characters.