1919: The Year Our World Began

by William K. Klingaman

Book Overview

1987 edition. Beautiful as new book. As new. No markings internally. From private collection. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312005563
• ISBN13: 9780312005566
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 689 Pages
• Weight: 2.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Year that Changed (Almost) Everything

In our turbulent era, it's tempting to look back to an earlier, more peaceful time -- the Good Old Days -- when the world made sense. Sorry, folks. That idyllic time never existed -- least of all in 1919. All you have to do is read William Klingaman's history of that year to learn how chaos and violence dominated the planet in the immediate aftermath of World War I. Mass starvation in Central and Eastern Europe. The rise of fascism in Italy and Germany. Bolshevik revolution and civil war in Russia. Massacres by the British imperial forces in India. Race riots and Red scares in the United States. The cast of characters is nothing short of astounding. And the seeds they planted in 1919 would ultimately turn the world upside down for generations to come: -- Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky -- Mussolini and Hitler -- Woodrow Wilson and the failed League of Nations -- Ho Chi Minh -- Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks -- Albert Einstein -- Kaiser Wilhelm -- Hemingway and Fitzgerald -- Harry Truman and Winston Churchill -- Pioneering aviators, inventors and scientists All of these powerful people were either on the world stage or preparing to seize the limelight in 1919. Given everything that happened that year, it's no wonder that the 1920s were known as the "Age of Anxiety." At more than 600 pages, Klingaman's book is not an easy read. And at times he gets bogged down in the details of Wilsonian diplomacy. More photos of second-tier players would have been helpful. But overall, this is an excellent popular history of the year that really did re-define our world forever.

Captures an Era

Klingaman lucidly describes the various political and cultural plots in different parts of the world and how actions in one place have ramifications elsewhere. The personalities of the newsmakers of the era are covered including two who were starting their rise to power during the period, Benito Mussolini and Adlof Hitler. Interpersonal communication between the "big four", (Lloyd George, Vittorio Orlando, Georges Clenmenceau, and Woodrow Wilson) is included. Klingaman includes in his overview, stories of aviators Harry Hawker and MacKenzie Grieve, who tried to make the first nonstop Atlantic crossing. In terms of popular culture he looks at the career of Charlie Chaplin. On the sports front he describes the infamous Chicago Black Sox matter. Generally speaking this book effectively captures a broad sweep of what was happening in 1919.