The 20th century has been one of vast and sweeping global change, of communism and fascism, of debt and prosperity, of the United Nations and nationalistic fervour, of mass demonstrations and individual defiance; and also of the aircraft and the submarine, of the conveyor belt and the computer, of miracle cures and new diseases, and of radio and television. To make sense of this, truly global history is required. Grenville not only ranges across the world, painting sharp portraits of the great events and the key personalities, but also stresses the underlying developments in technology that provide the background against which all individuals, movements, nations and ideologies have risen and fallen. He focuses on the beliefs and activities of ordinary men and women and how history changed their lives.