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Summary: Modern Times? Modern Masterpiece morelike!
Review: History is about interpretation.Paul Johnson provides one of the most original and interesting interpretations of the ravaged century that I have ever had the pleasure to read. At times ammsuing, provocative, depressing and inspiring - reflecting well 20th century history - this book is a remarkable, eclectic anthology of our times. I cannot recommend it enough.
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Summary: A wonderfully readable history of the 20th Century.
Review: Johnson has, in these 750 pages, assigned himself a difficult task: to step back from the era in which he lives and write a story that gives proper proportion to events and personalities, as if from a distance. (Like making a map of a mountainous region from sea level.) Furthermore, to make it interesting to a contemporary audience, many of whom will have personal familiarity with particular aspects of that history. I felt he succeeded very well. It is a work of incredible breadth and insight. I found this book not only good reading, but insightful and fresh even when he talked about subjects that I am familiar with. Of course, Johnson did not make any pretense of stepping back from modern history in a polemic sense: he tells 'em as he sees 'em, and sees them from a conservative Burkian standpoint. But his praise and censure seems more fairly distributed here than in Intellectuals. The heart of the story, alongside many subplots, is, it seems, the rise and fall of the great secular religions, such as Marxism, Fascism, and Naziism. Johnson takes what seems to me a rather weak and unhelpful stab at relating these political developments to concurrent scientific developments. It is also odd to me that, with all his talk about ideology, he says very little about trends in religion, except for Islam. He does not seem to have noticed the rise of the New Age movement in the West, or of Christianity in Africa, parts of Asia, and (in evangelical form) in Latin America. But I am sure there are plenty of ways Johnson could have made his book longer. . . And everything, whether book or century, must end some time. author, Jesus and the Religions of Man d.marshall@sun.ac.jp
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Summary: Know Thy World You Live In
Review: A must for the serious student of history and not only. Fascinating reading about the major historical events that have shaped our modern world after the second world war. It is a massive and yet condensed work that presuposes certain knowledge on the events described. Thus, one volume of historical facts easily becomes ten or more, depending on how interested one is in finding out more about the described events. By masterfully avoiding the classical historian dull-narration-just-the-facts trap, Johnson gives a litterary appealing and a witty, playful and sometimes cynical insight in the personalities behind famous/infamous leaders such as Stalin, Mao, Idi Amin, Kennedy, and other heavy profiles spicing them with details that will amaize, amuze, and maybe terrify. In case you didn't know, Idi Amin killed both his wife and son and ate their hearts...I'm serious.
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Summary: true like fire
Review: I usually read great novels for a perspective of historical events, I know this is sophmoric at best, but until now I have found histories to be tedious and muttled. Johnson's "Modern Times" is a lucid and compelling read. He tell events in a logical manner, including details which paint a more complete picture of the events which shaped the world as we know it. Some may condem Johnson for including personal details about the people who steered humanity, rather than superfluous they are integral to a more complete understanding of the tyrants who whould have us believe they are gods. Many also discredit his work labeling it as conservative or possibly reactionary, I found him to be objective and poignant. Overall a definite must read. I will now pursue a indepth study of history because of Johnson, leaving behind the assigned tripe my professors forced down my throat.
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Summary: Comphrehensive and Thoroughly Entertaining
Review: The great philosopher Hegel once said (or so I've read) is that, "The only thing we have learned from history is that we don't learn anything from history." That aside, I still feel it invaluable to read and re-read errs of the past, especially of the 20th century. This book is insightful and illuminating for those who, like me, are interested in the times in which their fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers lived. I am only 23, and found it both helpful but also sadly tragic, as man continues to struggle with himself and the same old problems in new and improved ways.
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Summary: The Other Side of the Story
Review: Johnson creates an exciting alternative history of the 20th century. He presents the conservative view of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, the New Deal, the Great Society, the Vietnam War in a consistent and intellectually thrilling way. This book was tremendously influential in the '80's.
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Summary: a welcome balance to historical commentaries
Review: I found this book to be extremely easy to read and highly entertaining. It was very pleasing to read a history book that did not feel any need to apologise for a century of enormous progress. I probably agreed with 95% of the analysis, however on the closing subject of christianity's decline and the accompanying moral decline I will have to disagree. I think that the rise of the welfare state has been the greatest cause of a moral decline in the modern world.
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Summary: Greatest book on the 20th Century
Review: Paul Johnson's non-conventional (but not quite revisionist) Modern Times may be the greatest book written about the 20th century. A breath of knowledge, sharp insights, and writing skills are combined as never before into one book. There are so many highlights in this book that it is impossible to review them all. Mr. Johnson's discussions of economics and of man's inhumanity to man are the main strengths of this book. Mr. Johnson provides one of the best explanations of the depression that I have read. Mr. Johnson show that government speculation in the bond market and failure to raise interest rates were just as responsible as laissez-faire economics in bringing about the depression. President Hoover's actions, not his inaction, turns what should be a recession or a short depression into a world wide Great Depression. His explanations of both the economic problems of the 1970's and of the economic recovery of the 1980's are equally perceptive. Mr. Johnson gives lengthy discussions of Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, and Mao. He anger at the evil he describes is real but does not blunt his objectivity. His discussions of the use of terrorism in the Middle East and of the failure of de-colonization in Africa are vivid and on the mark. Watergate is the one event where Mr. Johnson insight fails him. He's see President Nixon run out of office by a press inspired witch hunt. While his descriptions of the activities of the press are accurate, it must be said that President Nixon gave his enemies the knife to stab him with.
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Summary: A masterpiece
Review: Johnson's Modern times is a must read: full of interesting information and reasonings, entertaining, and highly controversial. Since History is told from a conservative perspective in this book, many will find it provocative, maybe even unfair. And, these kind of critics might be correct in some aspects. Yet Johnson's book deserves to be read because it provides very bright ideas which must be taken into account when discussing about the history of the 20th century. For example, it is very interesting Johnson's analysis on why the allies threw the bomb on Japanese cities and what was the real dimension of the tragedy beneath this. Moreover, Johnson helps us understand difficult periods of the century like the rise of the nazi regime and the success of Khomeini in Iran. Finally, though it is true that some won't like the way Johnson treats popular personalities like Gandhi or Freud, He deserves to be recognized for his effort to bring ethical considerations when thinking about the lessons of history. Ah, by the way, this book must be read closely after or before reading Hobsbawm's book on the same subject! (because Hobsbawm provides the left-wing point of view).
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Summary: An anti-relativistic author who freely employs relativistism
Review: This book is meant for the easily duped and for those who wilfuly close their eyes to hypocrisy. Mr. Johnson does not attempt to analyze and understand history, he tries to turn into a battle between good and evil. He criticizes relativism, yet is extremely relativistic himself. An example: Mr. Johnson claims that the Soviets committed a wilful act of terrorism when they shot down a Korean airliner. Yet merely a page earlier attributes the American shooting down of an Iranian airliner as a mistake attributable to the extreme tensions of the Persian. The author fails to mention any of the "red-baiting" in 1950s America, yet freely condemns others for similar repressions. For Mr. Johnson, Anglo-America can do no wrong, even if it is similar to others that he condemns. When trying to condemn relativism, it doesnt help to be relativistic. Hypocrisy does not prove your point right.
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