The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West

From the bestselling author of The Ascent of Money and The Square and the Tower

"Even those who have read widely in 20th-century history will find fresh, surprising details." —The Boston Globe

"A fascinating read, thanks to Ferguson's gifts as a writer of clear, energetic narrative history." —The Washington Post

Astonishing in its scope and erudition, this is the magnum opus that Niall Ferguson's numerous acclaimed works have been leading up to. In it, he grapples with perhaps the most challenging questions of modern history: Why was the twentieth century history's bloodiest by far? Why did unprecedented material progress go hand in hand with total war and genocide? His quest for new answers takes him from the walls of Nanjing to the bloody beaches of Normandy, from the economics of ethnic cleansing to the politics of imperial decline and fall. The result, as brilliantly written as it is vital, is a great historian's masterwork.

“"A heartbreaking, serious and thoughtful survey of human evil that is utterly fascinating and dramatic . . . superb narrative history." - The New York Times Book Review "Ferguson's best book, by far, since The Pity of War . . . from bond markets to the face of battle, he has returned to the themes of his earlier book and to his strengths." -Paul Kennedy, The New York Review of Books "Wielding at once the encyclopedic knowledge of an accomplished scholar and the engaging prose of a master storyteller, Ferguson commendably brings fresh insights to a history by now familiar. . . . A tour de force." - San Francisco Chronicle "Even those who have read widely in 20th-century history will find fresh, surprising details." - The Boston Globe "A fascinating read, thanks to Ferguson's gifts as a writer of clear, energetic narrative history." - The Washington Post”

"A heartbreaking, serious and thoughtful survey of human evil that is utterly fascinating and dramatic . . . superb narrative history." —The New York Times Book Review

"Ferguson's best book, by far, since The Pity of War . . . from bond markets to the face of battle, he has returned to the themes of his earlier book and to his strengths." —Paul Kennedy, The New York Review of Books

"Wielding at once the encyclopedic knowledge of an accomplished scholar and the engaging prose of a master storyteller, Ferguson commendably brings fresh insights to a history by now familiar. . . . A tour de force." —San Francisco Chronicle

"Even those who have read widely in 20th-century history will find fresh, surprising details." —The Boston Globe

"A fascinating read, thanks to Ferguson's gifts as a writer of clear, energetic narrative history." —The Washington Post

Niall Ferguson is one of the world's most renowned historians. He is the author of Paper and Iron, The House of Rothschild, The Pity of War, The Cash Nexus, Empire, Colossus, The War of the World, The Ascent of Money, High Financier, Civilization, The Great Degeneration, Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist, and The Square and the Tower. He is Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. His many awards include the Benjamin Franklin Prize for Public Service (2010), the Hayek Prize for Lifetime Achievement (2012) and the Ludwig Erhard Prize for Economic Journalism (2013).

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