Best of
World-History

1939

The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1919-1939: An Introduction to the Study of International Relations


Edward Hallett Carr - 1939
    H. Carr's classic work on international relations published in 1939 was immediately recognized by friend and foe alike as a defining work. The author was one of the most influential and controversial intellectuals of the 20th century. The issues and themes he developed continue to have relevance to modern day concerns with power and its distribution in the international system. Michael Cox's critical introduction provides the reader with background information about the author, the context for the book, and its main themes and contemporary relevance.

The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia


René Grousset - 1939
    Hailed as a masterpiece when first published in French in 1939, and in English in 1970, this great work of synthesis brings before us the great people of the steppes, dominated by three mighty figures - Attila, Genghiz Khan, and Tamberlain - as they marched through ten centuries of history, from the borders of China to the frontiers of the West. Includes nineteen maps, a comprehensive index, notes, and bibliography.

A Guest for the Night


S.Y. Agnon - 1939
    A man journeys from Israel to his hometown in Europe, saddened to find so many friends taken by war, pogrom, or disease. In this vanishing world of traditional values, he confronts the loss of faith and trust of a younger generation. This 1939 novel reveals Agnon’s vision of his people’s past, tragic present, and hope for the future.Cited by National Yiddish Book Center as one of "The Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature"The Wisconsin edition is not for sale in the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, or the traditional British Commonwealth (excluding Canada.)

History of the World


Will & Ariel Durrant - 1939
    It was facinating and tedious. You might be able to check out the tapes or cd's from your local library.

Industrial Valley: The Politics of Bureaucratic Socialism


Ruth McKenney - 1939
    McKenney was a capable journalist who had spent a year and a half in Akron, the heart of the tire industry, a city that she said "smells like a rubber band smoldering in an ashtray." Industrial Valley vividly portrays an industrial city crippled by the country's economic failures and also provides a stirring example of fiction predicated on social and political principles. It will intrigue readers for its contemporary as well as its historical implications. The images McKenney evokes of workers confused and enraged by a moribund economy seem startlingly relevant today.

The Lost Legion: A Czechoslovakian Epic


Gustav Becvar - 1939
    They must fight their way through Siberia and the Urals against the Bolsheviks.