People's Century:: The Ordinary Men and Women Who Made the Twentieth Century - Hardcover

A companion to the PBS documentary series, People's Century is copiously illustrated, and the text, by veteran British journalist and historian Godfrey Hodgson, does a good job of documenting the colossal events of the century from the bottom up. Beginning with an essentially chronological approach that moves from World War I and the global depression onward to World War II and the cold war, the book transitions into a thematic organization, which covers such historical trends as movements against state racism, the international awareness of environmental problems, and the worldwide struggle for women's equal rights. Many personal stories humanize the sweeping themes and serve to make People's Century as entertaining as it is educational. --Robert McNamara

YA-This companion to the PBS television series gives a broad, chronological overview of 20th-century history. Chapters present both the historical context of the topic with its relevancy to the world. However, the publication is British so some American-focused events are omitted or receive little coverage. For example, the Cuban revolution is discussed, but there is no mention of the Cuban Missile Crisis, or Watergate, and only minimal information on the Gulf War. The readable text features interesting sidebars and short quotes from individuals who lived through the described events, although their personal backgrounds are not always given. Creative chapter titles draw the attention of browsers, e.g., "The War of the Flea" covers many of the guerrilla wars. Frequently, the years covered by the chapters overlap thus enabling cultural or medical topics to be discussed thoroughly since the political topics are covered elsewhere. Students will appreciate the thousands of related, fully captioned black-and-white and full-color photos that are closely matched to the text.
Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
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