Description
This fifth edition of Mastering Modem World History is designed to meet the needs of students following AS and A-level History courses. The questions are mostly in the current styles of the three examination boards, AQA, Edexcel and OCR. I hope that the book will be useful for GCSE students and that it will provide an introduction to the study of twentieth and early twenty-first-century world history for first-year undergraduates. Modern World History By Norman Lowe. The general reader who wants to keep abreast of world affairs should also find the book helpful. So much has happened since l put the finishing touches to the fourth edition in 2005, and the pace of change seems to be quickening. This makes it more difficult to get a stable perspective on the state of the modern world. The historian has to trace a careful way through all the available sources of information, and try to be as objective as possible in getting as close as possible to the truth. The problem of course is that it is difficult to be completely objective: writers from different cultures, religions, states and political groups will produce widely differing accounts of the same events. and so we are faced with many conflicting theories and interpretations. After reviewing, for example, the different theories about what really caused the First World War, or about whether colonialism was a ‘good thing‘ or not, history teachers are sometimes asked questions like: ‘Yes, that’s all very interesting, but what’s the right answer’? What’s the truth?’ However. as AS- and A-level students go deeper into their study of history, they will, hopefully, develop skills of analysis and argument as well as a critical and sceptical approach to historical controversy. They will come to realize that it is sometimes impossible to decide what ‘the truth’ is — all we can say is what ottr view of the truth is, based on our study of the different interpretations. This new edition of the best-selling coursebook is ideal for GCSE and other first examinations in history. It meets the requirements of the revised, post-Dearing Modern World History courses. * The third edition contains new material in all chapters and contains an even wider range of maps and illustrations * Coverage has been brought right up to date, and includes sections on recent important developments in world history, such as the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the civil wars in Rwanda and Yugoslavia * Questions have been rewritten, with lots of new source material, to bring them into line with the most recent GCSE papers. Modern World History By Norman Lowe
