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THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD:
1 9 4 5 TO T H E PR E S EN T
Since the end of World War II, the world has transformed in profound,
far-reaching ways. The dismantling of European empires after the war
led to decolonization, and the realignment of WWII allies led to conflict
between superpowers. As the Cold War heated up, two ideologies—
capitalism and communism—shaped daily life and international affairs.
And as it wound down, a tidal wave of globalization wrought new
avenues for growth but new sources of conflict—between the wealthy
and the poor, between the Global South and the Global North.
Tunnel Vision
By theendof thedecade,government funding forBigSciencebegan towaneasbusi-
ness took amore active role in research, engineering, and technological innovation.
Given the freedom that private enterpriseswere allowed inWestern countries, they
had advantages over the state-controlled scientists in the Soviet Bloc.When engi-
neers began tunneling under the English Channel, for instance, to connect Great
Britainwith Francewith a high-speed rail line, private enterprise, not the govern-
ment, footed thebill.
Referred to as the “Chunnel,” a combination of “channel” and “tunnel,” the
31-mile (50-km) tunnel was a collaborative effort between French and British
companies. InGreatBritain, themoney for the project came from two banks and
five construction companies, while in France, three banks and five construction
companieshelped pay the bills.Completed in 1994, theChunnel today isused by
20millionpeople a year.
AEurostar trainas itemerges from theChunnel
on theFrench side inCoquelles,nearCalais.
CHAPTER4 39
PCs Grow Up
In theworld of computing, private enterprise clearly held
the reins: a number of companies in the United States—
some small and new, some large and established—began
producing personal computers.Once the domain of hob-
byists, PCs began popping up in homes, businesses, and
governmentoffices.Everyyearcompanies releasednewand
bettermodels,making the computer industry a cutthroat
business.Computers became smarter,morepowerful, and
easier to use. People, universities, businesses, and govern-
mentsbeganusing themonanunprecedented scale.
In1981, IBM introduced aPC that turned the comput-
ingworldon itshead.The computer camewith twofloppy
drives,acolormonitor the fol-
lowing year, the computerhadbecome such an important
partof life thatTimemagazinenamed it “Manof theYear,”
beating outRonaldReagan and PrimeMinisterMargaret
ThatcherofBritain.
“Computers were once regarded as distant, ominous
abstractions, like Big Brother,” the magazine wrote. “In
1982, they truly became personalized, brought down to
scale,so thatpeoplecouldhold,prodandplaywith them.”
Bioengineering
As the computer continued to leave itsmarkon theworld,
scientistsweremaking incrediblebreakthroughs inbioen-
gineering.One of themost remarkable accomplishments
was theability to createnewdrugsusinggeneticmaterial.
The first to do it were William Rutter and Pablo
Valenzuela of the University of California, who in 1981
produced a bioengineered vaccine against hepatitis B.
Until then, conventional hepatitis vaccines were made
from thebloodof those infectedwith the virus.That tech-
nique,however,presented scientistswithproblems.Blood
could contain anundetected virus.Moreover, therewasn’t
enough plasma tomeet thedemand for the vaccine.
By genetically engineering vaccines, scientists avoided
the use of human blood. Instead, researchers inserted a
gene from thehepatitisB virus into yeast cells.Those cells
AN EASY
INTERFACE
In theearlydaysofpersonal
computing,people typed inMS-DOS
commandsonablankscreen to
operate theircomputersandaccess
informationon them.ButBillGates
andPaulAllenhadsomething
different inmind. In 1985,Gates
andAllen’scompany,Microsoft,
cameoutwith itsfirstversionof
MicrosoftWindows,which rendered
MS-DOSnearlyobsolete.
Windows,however,wasnot the
firstoperating system to intro-
duce thegraphicaluser interface,
orGUI.Apple introduced its
now-iconicMacintosh computer
in 1984.Andwhile thefirstMacs
didn’t takeoffasquicklyas the
early IBM–basedPCsdid, they
were thefirst togivepeople
aneasyway to interactwitha
computer.
AnearlyAppleMacintosh
computer, fromaround 1984. Actual Text Size
gineering. One of the most remarkable accomplish
was the ability to create new drugs using genetic mat
The first to do it were William Rutter and
Valenzuela of the University of California, who in
produced a bioengineered vaccine against hepati
Until then, conventional hepatitis vaccines were
from the blood of those infected with the virus. That
nique, however, presented scientists with problems.
could contain an undetected virus. Moreover, there
THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD: 1945 TO THE PRESENT OFFERS STUDENTS AN
ACCESSIBLE GUIDE TO THESE TRANSFORMATIONS. IN A COMPELLING NARRATIVE STYLE,
THE HUMAN STORY OF OUR PLANET’S MOST RECENT HISTORY COMES TO LIFE.