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Modern Times

The World from the Twenties to the Nineties

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Modern Times

By: Paul Johnson
Narrated by: Nadia May
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Named one of the Best Books of the Year in 1983 by the New York Times, this fast-paced, all-encompassing narrative history covers the great events, ideas, and personalities of the six decades following the end of World War I. It offers a full-scale, if controversial, analysis of how the modern age came into being and where it is heading.

Beginning with May 29, 1919, when photographs of the solar eclipse confirmed the truth of Einstein's theory of relativity, Johnson goes on to describe Freudianism, the establishment of the first Marxist state, the chaos of "Old Europe", the Arcadian 20s, and the new forces in China and Japan. Also discussed are Karl Marx, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Roosevelt, Gandhi, Castro, Kennedy, Nixon, the '29 crash, the Great Depression, Roosevelt's New Deal, and the massive conflict of World War II.

©1983 Paul Johnson (P)1988 Blackstone Audio Inc. 20th Century Soviet Union World Modern Socialism Capitalism War Stalin Russia Social justice Imperial Japan Interwar Period China Imperialism Military Self-Determination Roosevelt Family Middle East Latin America Africa Refugee Middle Ages
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Critic reviews

"Johnson's insights are often brilliant and of value in their startling freshness." (Los Angeles Times)
"Frequently surprises, even startles us with new views of past events and fresh looks at the characters of the chief world movers and shakers, in politics, the military, economics, science, religion, and philosophy of six decades." (The Wall Street Journal)
"Truly a distinguished work of history...Modern Times unites historical and critical consciousness. It is far from being a simple chronicle, though a vast wealth of events and personages and historical changes fill it....We can take a great deal of intellectual pleasure in this book." (The New York Times)
Comprehensive Historical Coverage • Insightful Analysis • Pleasant Voice • Contrarian Perspective • Thorough Research

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AI could read this far better and make the book more enjoyable. This reader is oddly popular among publishers, but has an unpleasant voice. This is sad because the book itself is very good and recomended as such. Just don’t expect a soothing or lovely audio voice

Needs a new reader — far better voices out there

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Overall the book is great. Very well read but sound lacks volume. I certainly recommend it.

A must

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Paul Johnson is a historical genius in the wilderness. However, you should listen to the narrator sample before purchasing this. I may be old and losing some of my touch on hearing, but I found the narrator often hard to understand, or let her strong voice tail off at the end of sentences.

Listen to the Sample first

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As someone born in the 70s and raised in the 80s, this book recounts my history. It synthesizes much of what I lived through as a young American watching the world, and what I learned as a young American about 20th century history in school. (Although Johnson is much more thorough and much more in depth than anything I learned in school.) Johnson's critique of political zealotry and false hope in Marxist ideology is spot on. The possibility of leaving the evils of the 20th Century for a more hope-filled 21st century, which Johnson pines for in the final paragraph of the revised edition of this book, seem doubtful at best.

Fantastic overview of 20th-century history

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Very well studied and researched even though I did not agree with ieverything. Probably understated the impact of Kissinger on American foreign policy. Overall I would recommend this book which covers a vast amount of events over nearly a century. Even during the course of one century there is large amount of empirical evidence suggesting the greater degree of economic freedom in the greater the rule of law the better off and more prosperous a people will be. A good acknowledgement of the flaws in social engineering and the social sciences more broadly

Very well studied and researched

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