The Shock of the Global

“A serious and impressive in-depth study of an unjustly neglected decade.”—Bill Perrett, The Age

“A grab-bag of lively academic essays that covers everything from the proliferation of global non-government organizations to the worldwide women’s rights movement to smallpox eradication.”—Christian Caryl, Foreign Policy

“[A] masterful book.”—Michael Casey, Irish Times

“A stellar group of authors tackles the transformation of the world in the 1970s, showing how the decade should be seen as ushering in the contemporary global age. Ranging from the end of U.S. economic hegemony to the rise of environmentalism, from the rise of China to the growing influence of Islam, from transnational business transactions to human rights, this book carefully examines the ‘shock’ of globalization and makes a major contribution to international history.”—Akira Iriye, author of China and Japan in the Global Setting

“An illuminating book that provides a new way to look at the international history of the 1970s. It redirects our attention away from the familiar narrative and instead places the decade in a new perspective that allows us to evaluate longer-term trends, including the evolution of global society, the dynamics of the international economy, the breakup of colonial empires, the impact of popular culture, and the declining realm for autonomous national choices. This superb work will be greeted with enthusiasm.”—Melvyn P. Leffler, author of For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War

“This volume is remarkable for uniformly strong essays and the cohesiveness of its argument that the 1970s were a distinctive era, and that the key to understanding the decade is the concept of globalization. Thought-provoking and consistently interesting, this book should have a very broad audience among both scholars and general readers alike.”—Thomas Alan Schwartz, author of Lyndon Johnson and Europe