Items related to 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War

1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War - Softcover

 
9781610393805: 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
Today, 1913 is inevitably viewed through the lens of 1914: as the last year before a war that would shatter the global economic order and tear Europe apart, undermining its global pre-eminence. Our perspectives narrowed by hindsight, the world of that year is reduced to its most frivolous features--last summers in grand aristocratic residences--or its most destructive ones: the unresolved rivalries of the great European powers, the fear of revolution, violence in the Balkans. In this illuminating history, Charles Emmerson liberates the world of 1913 from this "prelude to war" narrative, and explores it as it was, in all its richness and complexity. Traveling from Europe's capitals, then at the height of their global reach, to the emerging metropolises of Canada and the United States, the imperial cities of Asia and Africa, and the boomtowns of Australia and South America, he provides a panoramic view of a world crackling with possibilities, its future still undecided, its outlook still open. The world in 1913 was more modern than we remember, more similar to our own times than we expect, more globalized than ever before. The Gold Standard underpinned global flows of goods and money, while mass migration reshaped the world's human geography. Steamships and sub-sea cables encircled the earth, along with new technologies and new ideas. Ford's first assembly line cranked to life in 1913 in Detroit. The Woolworth Building went up in New York. While Mexico was in the midst of bloody revolution, Winnipeg and Buenos Aires boomed. An era of petro-geopolitics opened in Iran. China appeared to be awaking from its imperial slumber. Paris celebrated itself as the city of light--Berlin as the city of electricity. Full of fascinating characters, stories, and insights, 1913: In Search of the World before the Great War brings a lost world vividly back to life, with provocative implications for how we understand our past and how we think about our future.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
"Emmerson draws upon an impressive range of contemporary source material, ranging from travel guides and memoirs to unpublished diaries, newspaper reports and diplomatic memos. They give a vivid portrait of the rapid changes occurring in daily life around the globe. Charles Emmerson captures all the world's hope and excitement as it experienced an economic El Dorado. 1913 is history without hindsight at its best."--Wall Street Journal

"[Emmerson] aims not to explain what caused or was lost to the war, but to retrieve from the partial glare of hindsight the world in which it erupted. This is no modest undertaking. Mr. Emmerson draws from a wide range of sources, including memoirs, billboards and newspapers, to recreate a year that was fairly uneventful. Not unlike Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time," the first instalments of which were published in 1913, his narrative finds coherence in the unremarkable. [W]hat emerges is a rich portrait and an important set of ideas."--The Economist

"An eye-opening demonstration of just how modern the supposedly premodern world was."--Maclean's

"Charles Emmerson has written a book that contains much in the way of wistfulness, hope, bitterness, discord, assassinations, technological advancement, and enmity between nations and peoples. We may not ever fully know the reasons or reasoning behind the urge for war, and Charles Emmerson wisely does not bring them all out, but in 1913 his synthesis of the nervousness, striving, and strains in specific parts of the world give us a better understanding of the upheavals that led to the First World War."--Bookslut
"A masterful, comprehensive portrait of the world at that last moment in its history when Europe was incontrovertibly the centre of the universe, and, within it, London, the centre of the world. Charles Emmerson's 1913 brilliantly rescues [history] from the shadow of a war that would toll the end of the Old World and leave its survivors repining the loss of a Golden Age that had never been."--The Spectator (UK)

"Where Emmerson really scores is in the nuggets of detail and contemporary quotes that sparkle from these essays."--The Express (UK)

"In each city the author vividly surveys the political, economic and cultural scenes. The effect is transporting; 1913 is both passport and time machine. The centenary of the Great War will no doubt see the publication of many fine histories of the conflict, but few are likely to paint so alluring a portrait of the world that was consumed by it-and that helped bring it about."--Washington Post

"With the looming 100th anniversary of World War I, a spate of books about the not-so-Great War have begun to emerge. Emmerson's effort stands out for several reasons. First, Emmerson ranges widely, from Germany to Paris, from Bombay to Tokyo. Second, he is a sparkling writer, his narrative rarely flags and he has amassed a startling amount of detail."--Daily Beast

"Emmerson offers an impressive sweep that marshals much detail along the way, though at times there is a sense of being on a historical package tour (Baedeker is, indeed, a frequently cited source) in which some city breaks are better rendered than others. But there are some gems. In the patchwork Austro-Hungarian empire, one could drive on both sides of the road and there were 10 official languages but no translators in parliament. Does anyone wonder that it fell apart?"--Financial Times

"Marvelous. Emmerson, a scholar at Chatham House, a renowned London think tank, brilliantly avoids the inevitability trap in 1913. His panoramic depiction of the last year before the Great War permits us to see the world as it might have looked through contemporary eyes, in its full colour and complexity, with a sense of the future's openness. Emmerson is a superb guide and companion, whether inviting us to take a seat next to him in a favourite corner of a Viennese cafe or to survey tout Paris from the Eiffel Tower. In many ways, his book works as a time-travelogue--indeed, it frequently quotes contemporary tourist literature and travelers' accounts."--Cleveland Plain Dealer
Book Description:
A portrait of a world on the precipice of war – and the brink of globalisation.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherPublicAffairs
  • Publication date2014
  • ISBN 10 1610393805
  • ISBN 13 9781610393805
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages544
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780099575788: 1913: The World before the Great War

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780099575788
Publisher: Vintage, 2014
Softcover

  • 9781610392563: 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War

    Public..., 2013
    Hardcover

  • 9781847922267: 1913: The World before the Great War

    Bodley..., 2013
    Hardcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Charles Emmerson
ISBN 10: 1610393805 ISBN 13: 9781610393805
New paperback Quantity: > 20
Seller:
Blackwell's
(Oxford, OX, United Kingdom)

Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9781610393805

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 16.07
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within United Kingdom
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Emmerson, Charles
Published by PublicAffairs (2014)
ISBN 10: 1610393805 ISBN 13: 9781610393805
New Soft Cover Quantity: 10
Seller:
booksXpress
(Bayonne, NJ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9781610393805

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 13.32
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 4.75
From U.S.A. to United Kingdom
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Charles Emmerson
Published by PublicAffairs 2014-06-24 (2014)
ISBN 10: 1610393805 ISBN 13: 9781610393805
New Paperback Quantity: 20
Seller:
Chiron Media
(Wallingford, United Kingdom)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 6666-ING-9781610393805

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 17.95
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 2.49
Within United Kingdom
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Charles Emmerson
Published by INGRAM PUBLISHER SERVICES US (2014)
ISBN 10: 1610393805 ISBN 13: 9781610393805
New Quantity: 15
Seller:
PBShop.store US
(Wood Dale, IL, U.S.A.)

Book Description PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # IB-9781610393805

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 22.77
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
From U.S.A. to United Kingdom
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Emmerson, Charles
Published by PublicAffairs 6/24/2014 (2014)
ISBN 10: 1610393805 ISBN 13: 9781610393805
New Paperback or Softback Quantity: 5
Seller:
BargainBookStores
(Grand Rapids, MI, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9781610393805

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 13.80
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 9.11
From U.S.A. to United Kingdom
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Charles Emmerson
Published by PublicAffairs,U.S. (2014)
ISBN 10: 1610393805 ISBN 13: 9781610393805
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
CitiRetail
(Stevenage, United Kingdom)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Today, 1913 is inevitably viewed through the lens of 1914: as the last year before a war that would shatter the global economic order and tear Europe apart, undermining its global pre-eminence. Our perspectives narrowed by hindsight, the world of that year is reduced to its most frivolous features--last summers in grand aristocratic residences--or its most destructive ones: the unresolved rivalries of the great European powers, the fear of revolution, violence in the Balkans. In this illuminating history, Charles Emmerson liberates the world of 1913 from this "prelude to war" narrative, and explores it as it was, in all its richness and complexity. Traveling from Europe's capitals, then at the height of their global reach, to the emerging metropolises of Canada and the United States, the imperial cities of Asia and Africa, and the boomtowns of Australia and South America, he provides a panoramic view of a world crackling with possibilities, its future still undecided, its outlook still open. The world in 1913 was more modern than we remember, more similar to our own times than we expect, more globalized than ever before.The Gold Standard underpinned global flows of goods and money, while mass migration reshaped the world's human geography. Steamships and sub-sea cables encircled the earth, along with new technologies and new ideas. Ford's first assembly line cranked to life in 1913 in Detroit. The Woolworth Building went up in New York. While Mexico was in the midst of bloody revolution, Winnipeg and Buenos Aires boomed. An era of petro-geopolitics opened in Iran. China appeared to be awaking from its imperial slumber. Paris celebrated itself as the city of light--Berlin as the city of electricity. Full of fascinating characters, stories, and insights, 1913: In Search of the World before the Great War brings a lost world vividly back to life, with provocative implications for how we understand our past and how we think about our future. "First published in Great Britain in 2013 by The Bodley Head"--T.p. verso. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781610393805

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 23.99
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within United Kingdom
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Emmerson, Charles
Published by PublicAffairs (2014)
ISBN 10: 1610393805 ISBN 13: 9781610393805
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Ebooksweb
(Bensalem, PA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. . Seller Inventory # 52GZZZ00GX23_ns

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 18.51
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 6.33
From U.S.A. to United Kingdom
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Emmerson, Charles
Published by PublicAffairs (2014)
ISBN 10: 1610393805 ISBN 13: 9781610393805
New Softcover Quantity: > 20
Seller:
California Books
(Miami, FL, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # I-9781610393805

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 19.58
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 5.55
From U.S.A. to United Kingdom
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Emmerson, Charles
Published by PublicAffairs (2014)
ISBN 10: 1610393805 ISBN 13: 9781610393805
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Book Deals
(Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-1610393805-new

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 13.30
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 11.88
From U.S.A. to United Kingdom
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Emmerson, Charles
Published by PublicAffairs (2014)
ISBN 10: 1610393805 ISBN 13: 9781610393805
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GF Books, Inc.
(Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 1610393805-2-1

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 13.77
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 11.88
From U.S.A. to United Kingdom
Destination, rates & speeds

There are more copies of this book

View all search results for this book