Who's Who in Modern History

Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980 332 pages. 'No era in world history has been so dramatic or eventful as the past 120 years. By the end of the nineteenth century the social habits and political forms of five continents were integrated into a single culture of western inspiration. Yet this achievement was soon shattered by war and revolution. Imperial authority, inside and outside Europe, gave way to new republics with unprecedented power. In Asia and Africa political revolts toppled alien institutions. In North America a nation, once tragically divided over slavery or freedom, emerged within four generations as arbiter of world peace. Human ingenuity traced the pattern of mankind's evolution, harnessed new sources of energy and conquered the pull of gravity as science reached for the moon, and found it. Who's Who In Modern History supplies in alphabetical form over 600 biographical sketches of the men and women who haved shaped the course of history during these years between 1860 and 1980. Kings and emperors, presidents and prime ministers, soldiers and seamen, airmen and astronauts, inventors and engineers, some artists, some playwrights, four titans of sport, an impresario and a gangster - all are here from A (Sultan Abdul Hamid II) to Z (King Zog). The biographies stress the origins, social and educational, of their subjects, as well as their achievements and ultimate destinies. Who's Who In Modern History is an invaluable work of reference for anyone concerned with recent history and contemporary politics - an indispensable guidebook to the world of yesterday, today and tomorrow.' Ex Library.