Major global syntheses of the twentieth century
Eric Hobsbawm – Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991 (1994)
A landmark global synthesis of the twentieth century. Hobsbawm integrates social, economic, and political analysis, with particular emphasis on class, mass society, and the transformations of capitalism and socialism.
Tony Judt – Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (2005)
Although centered on Europe, this work adopts a wide comparative perspective and offers a deeply social interpretation of postwar transformations, including welfare systems, migration, and cultural change.
Mark Mazower – Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century (1998)
A reinterpretation of Europe’s twentieth century that foregrounds social conflict, ideological struggles, and the instability of liberal democracy, with broader implications for global history.
Global social history of capitalism, inequality, and labor
Immanuel Wallerstein – The Modern World-System (vols. III–IV, 1989–2011)
A macro-historical framework for understanding global capitalism in the twentieth century. Particularly influential for analyzing social inequality, labor divisions, and global hierarchies.
Thomas Piketty – Capital and Ideology (2019)
A sweeping comparative history of inequality across the modern world. Combines quantitative data with social and ideological analysis, offering a long-term perspective on stratification.
Sven Beckert – Empire of Cotton: A Global History (2014)
A global account of capitalism through the cotton industry. Demonstrates how labor systems, imperial expansion, and social relations developed across continents in the modern era.
Transnational and global approaches to society and culture
Akira Iriye – Global and Transnational History: The Past, Present, and Future (2013)
A key historiographical work that situates social history within global and transnational frameworks, emphasizing flows, networks, and cross-border interactions.
Jürgen Osterhammel – The Transformation of the World (2009)
Though primarily about the nineteenth century, it provides essential conceptual tools for analyzing twentieth-century global social transformations such as urbanization, migration, and knowledge systems.
French-language contributions (broad and synthetic works)
Pierre Rosanvallon – La société des égaux (2011)
A major reflection on equality in modern societies. Combines historical and theoretical analysis to trace the evolution of social relations and democratic ideals in the contemporary world.
Christophe Charle – Discordance des temps: Une brève histoire de la modernité (2011)
A wide-ranging synthesis of modern societies, focusing on cultural and social transformations across Europe and beyond in the twentieth century.
Patrick Boucheron (ed.) – Histoire mondiale de la France (2017)
A collective work that reinterprets French history within a global framework. Though structured around France, it exemplifies transnational social history methodologies.
Spanish-language contributions (global and comparative perspectives)
Josep Fontana – Por el bien del Imperio: Una historia del mundo desde 1945 (2011)
A large-scale global history of the post-1945 world, focusing on power, inequality, and social conflict. Strongly critical in perspective, with emphasis on global capitalism.
Josep Fontana – El siglo de la revolución: Una historia del mundo desde 1914 (2017)
A comprehensive account of the twentieth century, integrating social, economic, and political transformations on a global scale.
Manuel Pérez Ledesma (ed.) – De súbditos a ciudadanos: Una historia de la ciudadanía en España (2007)
While partly focused on Spain, this collective volume adopts broader comparative perspectives on citizenship, social rights, and political participation in the modern world.
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