Modern Times

Modern Times Revised Edition: The World from the Twenties to the Nineties by Paul Johnson, Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 1992. 

Summary

This is a history of the Twentieth Century that is particularly good on Germany and Japan. This is a description of world history from the 1920s to the 1980s. 

Moral Relativism

The author favors universal moral standards, applicable to all peoples, all places and all times in history. He also favors the Judeo-Christian ethics. He opposes moral relativism, which states that morality depends o which culture you are a part of, and that the ends justifies the means.

The two main things I learned were:

• German culture was divided between the liberals and conservatives (add details), and

• Japan has a shallow culture, unlike China, which has a deep culture. 

Germany’s East-West Division

Paul Johnson divides German leaders Ito two factions: Easterners and Westerners. Easterners: wanted conquest of countries to their East. They were in favor of German culture, and opposed to Western liberal democracy. Easterners were the ruling elite. They blamed the Westerners for Germany’s problems, for signing the Treaty of Versailles. President Paul von Hindenburg was an Easterner. The Weimar parliament was Western. Western = Civilization. 

Some Topics

• Bolshevik revolution in Russia

• Chinese Civil War between the Nationalists and the Communists

• The Roaring Twenties I the USA

• The Great Depression

• The rise of Adolph Hitler

• World War II

• Post-colonial Africa