| Description |
xv, 407 pages ; 24 cm |
| Note |
Hardcover first published by Basic Books in 2013. |
| Summary |
"Few moments in history have seen as many seismic transformations as 1979. That single year marked the emergence of revolutionary Islam as a global political force, the beginning of market revolutions in China and Britain that would radically alter the international economy, and the first stirrings of the resistance movements in Eastern Europe and Afghanistan that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. In Strange Rebels, veteran journalist Christian Caryl shows how the world we live in today and the problems that plague it began to take shape in this pivotal year." -- Back cover |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 385-391) and index. |
| Contents |
The great backlash -- Malaise -- Dragon Year -- "A wild but welcoming state of anarchy" -- The emperor as revolutionary -- Tory insurrectionists -- A dream of redemption -- The Imam -- With a gun in the hand -- The Prophet's proletariat -- Truth from facts -- The blood of the martyrs -- The Lady -- Thrice banished, thrice restored -- The Evangelist -- Eleven million people -- Back to the future -- The second revolution -- Playing bridge -- Fraternal assistance -- Solidarity -- Khomeini's children -- Jihad -- "The Lady's not for turning" -- Socialism with Chinese characteristics -- The problem with progress. |
| Summary |
"After World War II, a secular, progressive consensus defined the international order. That changed in 1979, when a series of counterrevolutions swept the globe, blazing a path for a new era. China launched reforms that would make it the economic powerhouse it is today. Pope John Paul II traveled to Poland, challenging communism in Eastern Europe by reigniting its people's suppressed Catholic faith. An Islamic revolution transformed Iran into a theocracy almost overnight, while the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan gave rise to that country's mujahedin resistance, the precursor to al-Qaeda. Margaret Thatcher became prime minister, returning Britain to a purer form of free-market capitalism-and inspiring Ronald Reagan to do the same. Weaving these stories into a brisk and gripping narrative, award-winning journalist Christian Caryl's Strange Rebels offers a groundbreaking explanation of the year that set the course for the twenty-first century. "-- Provided by publisher. |
|
"Most historians would have us believe that the 20th century ended and the 21st century began in 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the triumph of the West over the Soviet Union. But as veteran journalist Christian Caryl shows in Strange Rebels, the world we live in today--and the problems that plague it--can actually be traced back a decade earlier. 1979 was the year that the postwar order evaporated, reshaping the international system and making way for a new era of global history. As Caryl shows, 1979 marked the launch of a global counterrevolution against the secular, progressive consensus that had dominated the world since the end of World War II. At the heart of this countermovement was popular disenchantment with many governments' attempts to create rational, egalitarian societies within their countries; by the 1970s, such utopian quests seemed only to have yielded static, imbalanced systems that allowed local elites to impose rigid, mechanistic political visions on their constituents, undermining traditional sensibilities, beliefs, and freedoms in the process. The epic series of counterrevolutions that took place in 1979 threw off these utopian systems and replaced them with more pragmatic, traditional ones, fundamentally transforming politics and economics across the world. As Caryl vividly proves in Strange Rebels, our modern age--with its politicized religion, post-communist globalization, and laissez-faire economics--would not exist were it not for the events of 1979. Indeed, 1989 itself could not have happened without the counterrevolutions of this fateful year. Weaving together these dramatic stories into a paradigm-shifting revision of our recent history, Caryl offers a startling new argument about the hinge on which the twentieth century turned"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Subject |
History, Modern -- 1945-1989.
|
|
History, Modern. |
| Chronological Term |
1945-1989 |
| Subject |
World politics -- 1975-1985.
|
|
World politics. |
| Chronological Term |
1975-1985 |
|
1945 - 1989 |
| ISBN |
0465065678 |
|
9780465065677 |
|
