Includes index.

Introduction -- The world in 1920 -- The world in 1950 -- The world in 1974 -- The world in 2005 -- World War I -- Interwar Europe -- World War II in Europe to 1942 -- World War II in Europe 1942-1945 -- Europe divided -- Europe after the Cold War -- The Americas to 1945 -- Americas since 1945 -- Central America and the Caribbean -- The making of the Soviet Union -- The decline of the Soviet Union -- China 1911-1949 -- Japan and Asia -- World War II in Asia -- East Asia since 1945 -- Central and South Asia -- The rise of the Pacific Rim -- The Middle East and North Africa -- Arab-Israeli conflict -- The Middle East since 1977 -- Decolonization and nationalism in Africa.