This new Handbook is a comprehensive reference guide on international relations, politics and modern world history. Starting with the concluding stages of the Second World War (including Yalta, the defeat of Germany and Japan and the birth of the United Nations) the book goes through to major events in the new post-Cold War world (such as the Serbo-Croat wars, the South Africa and the end of the Deng era in China). Throughout attention is paid to international themes such as decolonization, African nationalism and global environmentalism, as well as social and economic history (including information on inflation rates, natural disasters, and environmental issues).

This new Handbook is a comprehensive reference guide on international relations, politics and modern world history. Starting with the concluding stages of the Second World War (including Yalta, the defeat of Germany and Japan and the birth of the United Nations) the book goes through to major events in the new post-Cold War world (such as the Serbo-Croat wars, the South Africa and the end of the Deng era in China). Throughout attention is paid to international themes such as decolonization, African nationalism and global environmentalism, as well as social and economic history (including information on inflation rates, natural disasters, and environmental issues).

The Longman Handbook of the Modern World
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This is an important new addition to the now well-established Longman Handbook series, covering world history, politics and international relations from the end of the Second World War to the present day. Following the tried and tested format of the successful European, British and American Handbooks, this new book includes-
· Political History in the form of chronologies devoted to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australasia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America. The section concludes with listings of selected Heads of State and leading ministers on a country by country basis.
· A section devoted to Wars and International Affairs. Included here is a listing of all the major treaties and international agreements since 1944; entries for every war and major armed conflict in the postwar period; and chronologies devoted to the United Nations, and nuclear development and arms control since 1939.
· Key facts and figures in Economic and Social History, including information on population; world oil reserves; famines and major natural disasters; and pollution and environmental issues.
· Short Biographies of approximately two hundred key figures, including Salvador Allende, Shimon Peres, Indira Gandhi, Viktor Chernomyrdin, Deng Xiaoping, Helmut Kohl, Pol Pot, General Noriega, Golda Meir, Haile Selassie, and Steve Biko.
· A comprehensive Glossary of Terms. In this enormously rich section the authors provide scores of short definitions of key terms and events. For example- My Lai, Iran-Contra Affair, Whitewater, Velvet Divorce, U-2 Incident, Taleban, Sandinistas, Pan-Africanism, dollar diplomacy, Charter 77, and bamboo curtain.
· Over thirty pages of Bibliographic Advice, sub-divided by topic for the reader?s convenience.
The book is a formidable achievement, in terms of scope, breadth and practicality. It will not just be an invaluable desk companion for those studying or teaching history, politics and international relations but it will also be of great use to journalists and other professionals, as well as a source of pleasure and interest to the general reader.
CHRIS COOK is former Visiting Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and former Head of the Modern Archives Survey at the British Library of Political and Economic Science; JOHN STEVENSON is Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford.