1913

June 3, 2013
Two decades into the 21st century what could possibly be left to say about the 20th? Emmerson, a fellow at the Royal Institute for International Affairs has reached back 100 years and found plenty. His engrossing book profiles world cities who will play pivotal roles in the century's narrative arc, from "Old World" European powers through Asia's "Twilight Powers". This historical time is unique in being the moment the globe was finally completely discovered and claimed, as well as interconnected via telegraph wires, railway lines, and shipping routes, creating what has become the globalization we presently take for granted. Emmerson's best chapters lay foundations for the global issues on the horizon like race and diplomacy in America, and oil and religious differences in the Middle East; lesser-known personal and institutional stories laying the groundwork for enriched understandings of world events to come. By staying so tightly focused on this single year, Emmerson is able to reveal causal mechanisms while simultaneously making readers wonder what could have been. No reader will leave this work without ever again looking at current events as clues, a living history of powers to come and go with all the possible advancements and catastrophes that will follow.

November 15, 2013

In 1914, the world went to war. Called "the war to end all wars," the conflict set the stage for many wars that followed. Was a global conflagration inevitable? Could it have been avoided? While historians have argued these questions for decades, Emmerson (senior research fellow, Royal Inst. for Intl. Affairs, London; The Future History of the Arctic) takes a different approach. Instead of reexamining all the classic causal explanations that came after the first shot was fired, he looks at the world (not just Europe) in the year before the war. Through the lens of contemporary travelers, journalists, politicians, heads of state, and writers from 20 cities, readers get a very real sense of the political, social, and economic events and mood of the period. Beginning and ending with London and including Paris, New York, Bombay, Buenos Aires, Constantinople, and Tokyo, this is a fascinating bird's-eye view of a landscape seen in what was the dying light of empire and on the brink of tragedy. The mood of the time reads as both sadly sensing doom and being naively hopeful. VERDICT An imaginatively conceived, thoroughly researched, and outstandingly written perspective that is highly recommended for both academic and general readers.--Linda Frederiksen, Washington State Univ. Lib., Vancouver

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