Publisher's Synopsis
Since the first edition of this book was published in 1990, the world has witnessed momentous upheavals. Not only have the Gulf War and the end of Soviet communism altered the international scene, but the break-up of the USSR and Yugoslavia has spawned a host of new states. The "Countries of the World" section of the book has been revised to take into account these and other changes, and facts, figures and analyses in other sections have also been brought into line with recent developments.;Not all changes have been political. There have been scientific breakthroughs such as the discovery of two new moons of Saturn, and the deaths of major figures such as Margot Fonteyn, Miles Davis, Graham Greene and Isaac Asimov are recorded. The book's thematic arrangement provides inter-connected overviews of a wide range of subjects, from the women's movement to quantum theory.
