1946, Victor Sebestyen
1946, Victor Sebestyen
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1946
The Making of the Modern World

Author: Victor Sebestyen

Narrator: Derek Perkins

Unabridged: 12 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/10/2015


Synopsis

In 1946, Victor Sebestyen creates a taut, panoramic narrative and takes us to meetings that changed the world: to Berlin in July 1945, when Truman tells Stalin that we have successfully tested the bomb; to Ye'nan, China, in January 1946, when General George Marshall tells the Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong that Americans won't send troops to China, assuring that the Communists will attain power; to Delhi, India, in April 1946, when U.K. cabinet members tell Pandit Nehur and Mahatma Gandhi that the British will leave India within a few months, ending two centuries of British imperialism.

Drawing on new archival material and many interviews, Sebestyen analyzes these major postwar decisions and others as he discusses the economic collapse, starvation, ethnic cleansing, and displacement that followed the war. This was the year when it was decided that there would be a Jewish homeland, when Europe would be split by the Iron Curtain, when independent India would become the world's biggest democracy, and when the Chinese communists would win a civil war that positioned them to become a great power.

About Victor Sebestyen

Victor Sebestyen was born in Budapest. He has worked on many newspapers in the U.K., including the Times, the Daily Mail, and the London Evening Standard. He has also written for American publications, including the New York Times. He is currently an associate editor at Newsweek.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Liviu on December 20, 2015

excellent stuff about the year of the title and how the contemporary world started getting its shape; if 1945 was year zero (there is another very good book with that title by I. Buruma which makes a great companion to this one), this was in many ways year 1 covering the main places of interest (Euro......more

Goodreads review by Linda on July 19, 2018

This is a well written, interesting global history of the events in 1946 that shaped the world as we have known it. The the breadth and scope of the research in impressive. I learned a great deal and recommend it highly.......more

Goodreads review by Mike on August 12, 2019

This was a great book that gave an overview of the major areas around the world in 1946 that were most impacted by the events of World War II. I would say a majority of the book focused on the West (USA, Russia, and Europe) but there were also fascinating chapters on China, Japan, and Israel. I lear......more

Goodreads review by Paul on January 12, 2022

A fascinating look at the world immediately after WW2. If we think we’ve got a refugee problem now it’s nothing compared to 1946 with thousands upon thousands of displaced persons across Europe, some of which who couldn’t, or didn’t want to, go home. It also details the beginnings of the Cold War an......more

Goodreads review by Seth on May 29, 2022

An incredible chronicle of the formation of the modern world following World War 2. Structured in chapters detailing the most important events that occurred around the globe during 1946. Empires failing, Axis power States being restructured by the west, power grabs throughout Europe and the formatio......more