Great Events from History – serie

Salem's definitive 20th century historical reference continues with this title.Salem Press' monumental ""Great Events from History"" series spans human history from ancient times to the present, worldwide. ""Great Events from History: The 20th Century, 1971-2000"", a six-volume set, provides extended coverage of 1,083 major events between 1971 and 2000.The period is extraordinarily important: The late twentieth century was a time of significant advances in science and technology. Space probes explored comets. Personal computers were born and quickly grew to change the way people all over the world work, play, and communicate. With the rise of the Internet, information of all kinds became available at the click of a button. In addition, advances in biotechnology were groundbreaking, producing the first genetically engineered vaccine, a map of the human genome, and the first successfully cloned mammal.Plus, the events covered include the curriculum-oriented geopolitical events of the era - from the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War in 1973 to the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Essays also address important social and cultural developments in daily life: major literary movements, significant developments in the arts and motion pictures, trends in world population and immigration, and landmark social legislation.The essays range in length from 3 to 5 pages and adhere to a uniform format. The ready-reference top matter of every essay displays the most precise date of the event, the common name, a summary paragraph, locale, category of the event, and the key people involved.The text of each essay is divided into four sections: ""Summary of Event"" gives a chronological description of the facts of the event. ""Significance"" assesses the event's historical impact, ""Further Reading"" provides a fully annotated list of sources for further study, and ""See Also"" offers extensive cross-references to other essays within the Great Events set.A ""Keyword List of Contents"" appears in the front matter to each volume. A section of historical maps also appears in the front matter, displaying world regions in the late twentieth century to assist readers in placing the events' locales. Accompanying the individual essays are an additional 85 maps; 240 quotations from primary source documents, lists, and time lines; and more than 500 photographs and other illustrations. In addition, several research aids appear at the end of Volume 6, including a bibliography, a chronological list of entries, and a listing of electronic resources. Four complete indexes (Geographical, Category, Personages, and Subject) round out this remarkable set.

The latest addition to the Great Events series chronicles significant moments in the history of American women, including legal, political, and cultural milestones. Beginning with citizenship and access to education, the timeline continues through women's suffrage, the ERA, changing sexual and reproductive mores, equality in the workplace, and the #meToo movement. Often intersecting with the civil rights movement, the story of women's journey to equality includes such landmark events as the Seneca Falls Convention, civil rights activism by Rosa Parks, first birth control clinic, passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, Equal Pay Act, Title VII, Title IX, Roe v. Wade, Violence Against Women Act, and the removal of the ban against women in combat.

It remains a disconcerting fact that much of the world's history has been determined by autocrats and dictators—by rulers who gained and retained power with an iron fist and a ruthless disregard for the wishes of their people, and the views of the international community. Most people could readily list some of the world's most infamous dictators, particularly those of the twentieth century: Adolf, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, and Pol Pot. These volumes provide the reader with a more comprehensive survey of the men—mostly men, but a handful of women as well—who ruled their people with harsh, autocratic methods. Entries document the lives and impact of numerous figures whose very names often inspired fear among their opponents and even among those who professed to support them: Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Buonaparte, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Idi Amin, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, Saddam Hussein, Jean-Claude Duvalier, Vladimir Putin. Following the popular Great Lives from History format, each essay begins with a brief synopsis explaining the individual’s historical or social importance.