Twentieth Century History For Dummies
by Dr Sean Lang
Twentieth Century History For Dummies
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-470-51015-5
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Author
Dr Sean Lang is the author of British History For Dummies and European History For Dummies. He lectures in history at Anglia Ruskin University and also teaches for the University of Cambridge Department of Continuing Education. He studied history at Oxford and has taught it in schools and colleges for the past twenty-five years. He has written textbooks and resource packs for A-level history and is co-editor of Twentieth Century History Review. He has been an A-level examiner and acted as adviser on history teaching to both government and opposition, as well as to the Council of Europe. He is Honorary Secretary of the Historical Association and has appeared frequently on radio and television talking about history.
Authors Acknowledgements
I must thank my editors at John Wiley, Steve Edwards and Sam Spickernell, who have shown more patience with my delays than I would have shown with my delays. The biggest thanks go, as ever, to my wife Lorna and our girls, Emily, Kate, and Imogen. Yes, girls, Dads written another book, so there might be buns for tea!
Publishers Acknowledgements
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Introduction
O ne day in the early 1970s I was watching an item on a childrens television programme. The presenters had got hold of a newspaper from the 1920s and were looking at articles imagining what life would be like in the future specifically, in the 1970s. They imagined wed all be living in sleek towers soaring into the sky and driving cars that flew, though the illustration, showing a Model T Ford with wings, didnt inspire much confidence. My grandmother, who was watching the programme with me, was a bit put out. Theyre talking about the 1920s as if they were ancient history! she said, indignantly. Which had me puzzled, because thats exactly what I thought they were!
Now, you could see that incident as a little illustration of different age perspectives. My grandmother was born in 1900 so the 1920s were her twenties, and you always think they were only yesterday. But this story also tells us something about the century itself. Wondering what the future will be like is a very twentieth-century thing to do after all, in the Middle Ages no one thought it would be so very different from the present. The comics I read as a child used to carry pieces about the Future and their vision wasnt so very different from that 1920s newspaper: By the year 2000 wed all be youve guessed it! living in sleek towers and whizzing around in flying cars. Oh, and wearing