Barbarism and Civilization: A History of Europe in Our Time Book

Viewing the history of the world from 1914 through a little after 2004 shows many interesting different perspectives -- The chapters divide ages in new ways, like World War I, 1914-1916, and the age of revolutions, 1917 onward. After World War II we have different chronologies for Western Europe and Eastern Europe, including an important break in the East after the fall of Khrushchev after which the world realized that Soviet Russia could change rulers without killing the old one.

Despite a nice, but short passage showing the Portuguese government trying to convince its people to fund the continuation of a cruel and pointless African war when the people can see that everyone in Europe has running water except them, there are issues where the separation of how people lived from the chapters on the decisions made by the leaders makes the book a little weaker in parts than it could have been. Nevertheless it covers a remarkable amount of material -- things I'd never heard of, things presented in different ways, and remains very readable.