Great Power Diplomacy, Volume II, 1914-Present

Norman Rich delivers another stunning account of diplomatic history this time from 1914 through the mid 1990's. For those unfamiliar with his work his account of Great Power diplomacy between 1814-1914 is among some of the best ever done. While this work is not quite as strong and strikes me as a little less thorough it still hits the mark. Beginning with the outbreak of World War 1 and tracking the history and counter myths the book provides an excellent summation. It the first we really only see European history with a little on the US and Asia. This book is truly a world history account and with so much to cover Rich is forced to glaze over a large amount. As usual it is pretty free from political bias and really makes the reader question the foreign policy decisions of previously untouchables such as Ronald Reagan. The rise of Asia and the Soviet Union are also very well done in this book and Rich displays an unusually keen understanding for the amount of pages he has to write on. One of the strong points of both books is the wonderful bibliography that has tons of suggestions for further reading. This really is an ideal book to start with when looking at diplomatic history of the world or just for gaining an understanding of the important events that happened in the 20th century.