Scottish-born Harvard professor Niall Ferguson, whose revisionist tendencies have made him a controversial but also influential figure, offers an idiosyncratic history of the 20th century in this three-part documentary miniseries. Drawn from his 2006 book of the same name, Ferguson's main contention is that we err in seeing the last century as a period of Western dominance; to the contrary, Ferguson suggests that the center of power began shifting East very early, with the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) initiating a century-long “war of the world” that would result in China's huge global footprint today. Seeing the extraordinarily brutal wars that stained the century as being part of a larger continuum, Ferguson argues that much of the 20th century's misery derived from the convergence of three elements—economic instability, ethnic hostility, and imperial decadence—that created a sort of historical fault-line in some regions that led to an explosion of violence. Ferguson further states that the 20th century can best be understood through an examination of the confluence of two forces—the debilitating series of Western wars and subsequent ascension of Eastern nations—while also suggesting that this understanding may help us assess (and perhaps defuse) similar dangers that we face in the 21st century. Ferguson energetically presents his ideas while traveling to various locales integral to his thesis, buttressing his arguments with well-chosen archival footage and stills. Although some will surely be offended by the author's contention that WWII was not a conflict between “good and evil” but “evil and less evil” (not to mention his description of the Allied victory as “tainted”), his view of the last 100 years—while debatable—is also a provocative one that should stimulate serious discussion. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)
The War of the World
(2007) 180 min. DVD: $24.99 ($54.95 w/PPR). PBS Video. Closed captioned. ISBN: 0-7936-9407-8. Volume 24, Issue 1
The War of the World
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