Popular Controversies in World History: The Twentieth Century to the Present

Popular Controversies in World History: The Twentieth Century to the Present
by Steven Danver (Editor)
Hardcover: 350 pages
Published: 2010 (and 2011 in 4-volume set)
ISBN-10: 1598840835
ISBN-13: 978-1598840834

This volume offers pro and con arguments for some of the most passionately debated issues in world history since the turn of the 20th century. Who was behind the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the event that launched World War I? Did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone in the death of President John F. Kennedy? Were the fears of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq justified? These are just some of the questions and events since the year 1990 that have sparked vigorous historical debates, both in the academic world and the general public. "Popular Controversies in World History: The Twentieth Century to the Present" uses an innovative and engaging format to examine 15 important issues historians are currently debating. For each issue, the book provides compelling arguments from accomplished historians on both sides - pro and con - along with supporting documentation. No final judgments are offered - it is up to readers to reach their own conclusions. Could the Titanic have been rescued? Were Niccolo Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti innocent? Was British Prime Minister Harold Wilson a Soviet spy? "Popular Controversies in World History: The Twentieth Century to the Present" gives students, scholars, and anyone interested in historical analysis the resources they need to critically assess these and other lingering questions of the 20th and early 21st century. The book features 30 expert contributors, each an established historian supporting either the 'pro' or 'con' point of view of a historic controversy with credible evidence and well-reasoned arguments; 25 sidebars with excerpts from relevant primary source materials; 15 chapters, each presenting a professional historian's view from both sides of a specific unresolved issue; and, situates each controversy in a chronology from the beginning of the 20th century to the present.