One World Divisible: A Global History Since 1945

Reynolds (Rich Relations: The American Occupation of Britain, 1942-1943), a historian of WWII and international relations, plays up several key themes from the post-WWII period, including the march of capitalism and the erosion of the state. In an increasingly globalized economy, he suggests, multinational corporations have taken over jobs that used to belong to the state. Politics drives Reynolds's narrative, but he has made a valiant effort to integrate social history and women's history. Four chapters in particular turn the reader's eye from Khrushchev, Begin, Thatcher and Reagan to ""social and cultural change"": American suburbanization and consumer culture, art and music, computers and DNA (""Chips and Genes""). In his final chapter on values at the end of the century, the historian reflects on a potpourri of disparate phenomena: fundamentalism, postmodernism, in vitro fertilization, the greenhouse effect, tobacco and human rights. Sadly, however, Reynolds's social history is not as global as his political history--his discussions of culture, families and ""isms"" pay too much attention to Europe and America. Many will laud this book as definitive, but in the end, though it is massive in scope and will be a handy reference for readers wanting an introduction to the postwar world, the book is no replacement, as either analysis or synthesis, for Eric Hobsbawm's masterful study, The Age of Extremes. Maps. (Jan.)