The 20th century has witnessed power struggles of unrivaled size and complexity. The rise of the superpowers, the birth of a global community in which virtually every dispute has international ramifications, and above all the horrific escalation of violence (unimaginable when the century began), all mark our modern era.Written by a team of distinguished historians, and packed with hundreds of stunning color illustrations, Power offers a vividly narrated, informative introduction to the great power conflicts of the 20th century. Everything is covered here: the Boxer Rebellion and the Bay of Pigs, the bombing of Hiroshima and the invasion of Grenada, the Ku Klux Klan and the Baader-Meinhof group, Sikh nationalists and the Khmer Rouge, and of course the two world wars and all the major political figures of the last ninety years. Arresting photographs and maps, datafiles, six chronological tables, and more than 150 capsule biographies complement the general narrative, and the contributors include special in-depth features on topics of particular relevance to our time, such as espionage, terrorism, fanatical groups, and propaganda.Boasting a distinguished roster of consulting editors--William McNeill, Akira Iriye, and Peter Pulzer--and such eminent contributors as Paul Kennedy, Wolfgang Krieger, and Michael Geyer, this authoritative introduction is at once a panoramic survey and a valuable reference for more in-depth study of the political forces that have shaped our lives.