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The twentieth century in Europe witnessed some of the most brutish episodes in history. Yet it also saw incontestable improvements in the conditions of existence for most inhabitants of the continent - from rising living standards and dramatically increased life expectancy, to the virtual elimination of illiteracy, and the advance of women, ethnic minorities, and homosexuals to greater equality of respect and opportunity. It was a century of barbarism and civilization, of cruelty and tenderness, of technological achievement and environmental spoliation, of imperial expansion and withdrawal, of authoritarian repression - and of individualism resurgent. Covering everything from war and politics to social, cultural, and economic change, Barbarism and Civilization is by turns grim, humorous, surprising, and enlightening: a window on the century we have left behind and the earliest years of its troubled successor.
In the 1930s, as Europe spiraled toward the Second World War, the continent’s Jews faced an existential crisis. The harsh realities of the age—anti-Semitic persecution, economic discrimination, and an ominous climate of violence—devastated Jewish communities and shattered the lives of individuals.
Revolutionary, spy, missionary, and conman, Trebitsch Lincoln was one of the most bizarre figures in modern history. A juvenile criminal in his native Hungary, he emigrated to Canada in 1900 as a missionary in Montreal and then became, successively, Anglican curate in Kent, Liberal Member of the British Parliament, German agent in both world wars, outlaw in the USA, member of the 1920 right-wing German military government, conspirator in the "White International," adviser to warlords in China, and Buddhist abbot in Shanghai. Historian Bernard Wasserstein unraveled the career of the many-faceted Trebitsch Lincoln by unearthing police reports, intelligence files, and diplomatic dispatches from more than a dozen countries and integrating them with numerous other archival documents and unpublished papers, to create a striking portrait of an enigmatic man. Trebitsch bamboozled many, including Lloyd George, Himmler and J. Edgar Hoover, and his life story mirrors the unquiet spirit of his age.--From publisher description.
In this classic account, Bernard Wasserstein draws on the files of the Shanghai Police as well as the intelligence archives of the many countries involved, to provide the definitive story of Shanghai's secret war. Bernard Wasserstein introduces the British, American and Australian individuals who collaborated with the Axis powers as well as subversive warfare operatives battling the Japanese - and one another. At times both shocking and amusing, this book lifts the lid on the bizarre underworld of the 'sin city of the Orient' during its most enthralling period in history.
An account of British bureaucratic blindness to the Jewish catastrophe in Europe shows that Churchill's efforts in behalf of the Jews were continually thwarted by subordinates.
Offering a persuasive basis for optimism about the conflict in the Middle East, Wasserstein focuses not only on religious differences, but on population, fertility rates, labor, and environmental pressures that have shaped politics in the region.
'A fine and deeply affecting work of history and memoir' Philippe Sands Decades ago, the historian Bernard Wasserstein set out to uncover the hidden past of the town forty miles west of Lviv where his family originated: Krakowiec (Krah-KOV-yets). In this book he recounts its dramatic and traumatic history. 'I want to observe and understand how some of the great forces that determined the shape of our times affected ordinary people.' The result is an exceptional, often moving book. Wasserstein traces the arc of history across centuries of religious and political conflict, as armies of Cossacks, Turks, Swedes and Muscovites rampaged through the region. In the Age of Enlightenment, the Polish m...
The author offers an Authoratative history of the fraught diplomatic relations surrounding the Holy City of Jerusalem.
The Major International Treaties of the Twentieth Century surveys the history of treaty-making throughout the twentieth century. It accessibly provides the texts of all the major treaties that either continue in force today, or are of historical importance. These treaties are essential for an understanding of recent history and analysis of current international relations. The Major International Treaties of the Twentieth Century is truly global in scope and covers treaties of all aspects, from political and economic agreements to environmental and human rights pacts. From the great many treaties set out and discussed, examples include: * the Treaty of Versailles, 1919 * the Pact of Steel, 19...